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7 


A    HISTORY 


UNITED    STATES 

IN  CHRONOLOGICAL  ORDER 

From     the     Discovery     of    America    in 
1492  TO  THE  YEAR  1885, 

INCLUDING   NOTICES    OF    MANUFACTURES    AS    THEY 
WERE  INTRODUCED;  OF  OTHER  INDUSTRIES;  OF 
RAILROADS,  CANALS,  TELEGRAPHS,  AND 
OTHER    IMPROVEMENTS  ;    OF    IN 
VENTIONS,    IMPORTANT 
EVENTS,  ETC. 


BY 

.EMERY    E. 


NEW  YORK. 
BAKER  &  TAYLOE. 

1886. 


/T4 


COPYTtTGHT,  1885, 

BY  EMERY  E.  CHILDS. 


M.  H.  GREEN, 

PRINTER,  ELECTROTYPKB  AND  BINDER, 

324-330  Pearl  Street, 

NEW  YORK. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


1492  CHRISTOPHEB  COLUMBUS,  in  the  service  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella,  King  and  Queen  of  Spain,  sailed  from  Palos  with  the  de 
sign  of  finding  a  passage  to  Asia  by  the  western  ocean.     On  the 
12th  of  October  he  discovered  one  of  the  West  India  islands, 
which  he  named  San  Salvador.     Continuing  his  voyage  he  saw 
several  islands,  and  touched  at  three  of  the  largest  of  them, 
which  he  named  St.  Mary  of  the  Conception,  Fernandina,  and 
Isabella.     On  the  27th  of  October  he  discovered  the  island  of 
Cuba,  where  he  remained  more  than  a  month.     Sailing  from 
Cuba  on  the  5th  of   December,  he  arrived  the  next  day.  at 
an  island  called  by  the  natives  Hayti,  which  he  named  Hispa- 
niola.    Here  he  erected  a  fort,  and,  leaving  it  in  charge  of  three 
of  his  officers  and  thirty-eight  men,  prepared  to  return  to  Spain. 
Having  the  opinion  that  these  islands  belonged  to  the  regions  of 
Asia  comprehended  under  the  name  of  India,  he  gave  them 
the  name  of  the  West  Indies. 

1493  On  the  25th  of  September  Columbus  sailed  from  Cadiz  on 
his  second  voyage  to  the  New  World.    He  discovered  numerous 
other  islands,  and  in  December  laid  the  foundation  of  a  town 
on  the  island  of  Hayti,  which,  hi  honor  of  the  queen,  he  named 
Isabella. 

1494  On  the  5th  of   May  Columbus   discovered    the  island  of 
Jamaica. 

1496  While  Columbus  was  successfully  establishing  the  founda 
tions  of  Spanish  power  in  the  New  World,  his  enemies  were 
assiduously  laboring  to  deprive  him  of  his  merited  honor  and 
emoluments.  Resolved  to  return  to  Spain  to  vindicate  himself 
from  those  false  charges  which  had  been  made  against  him  to 
the  Spanish  Court,  he  intrusted  the  government  of  the  islands 
to  his  brother,  and  on  the  10th  of  March  set  sail  for  Spain. 
After  his  departure  his  brother  removed  the  colony  from  Isa 
bella  to  the  south  part  of  the  island,  and  began  a  settlement 
there,  which  he  named  Santo  Domingo. 

The  discoveries  of  Columbus  excited  great  attention  in  Eng 
land,  and  John  Cabot  sought  and  obtained  a  commission  from 
King  Henry  VII.,  for  himself  and  his  three  sons,  to  prosecute 
discoveries  in  the  New  World,  and  to  occupy  and  possess  such 
places  as  they  could  subdue. 


2  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

1497  In  May  John  Cabot  and  his  son  Sebastian,  with  three  hun 
dred  men  and  two  vessels,  commenced  their  voyage.     On  the 
24th  of  June  they  discovered  land,  which  is  supposed  to  have 
been  a  part  of  Labrador,  and  soon  afterwards  returned  to  Eng 
land. 

1498  Sebastian  Cabot  sailed  from  England  on  another  voyage  of 
discovery.    He  first  saw  land  at  some  point  north  of  Newfound 
land,  and  thence  coasted  along  the  shores  of  the  continent  in  a 
southerly  direction  as  far  as,  or  near  to,  Albemarle  Sound, 
whence  he  returned  to  England. 

Columbus  sailed  on  his  third  voyage,  and  on  the  31st  of 
July  discovered  an  island  which  he  named  Trinidad.  On  the 
next  day  he  first  saw  the  southern  continent. 

1499  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  sailed  from  Spain  on  the  20th  of  May,  on 
a  voyage  of  discovery,  and  ranged  the  coasts  of  South  and 
Central  America  a  considerable  distance  beyond  where  Colum 
bus  had  voyaged.     Accompanying  this  expedition  was  Amerigo 
Vespucci,  a  Florentine,  eminently  skilled  in  all  the  sciences  per 
taining  to  navigation.     By  the  publication  of  his  account  of  the 
voyage  it  is  supposed  that  his  name  came  to  be  given  to  the 
New  World. 

1500  Gaspar  de  Cortereal,  a  Portuguese,  explored  several  hundred 
miles  of  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland  and  Labrador. 

1508  Thomas  Aubert  made  a  voyage  from  Dieppe  to  Newfound 
land,  and,  proceeding  thence  to  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  was 
the  first  to  sail  up  that  river  to  Canada.  On  his  return  he  car 
ried  to  Paris  some  of  the  natives. 

1512  Up  to  this  time  the  explorations  of  the  Spaniards  had  been 
confined  to  the  West  India  islands  and  the  coasts  and  islands 
of  Southern  and  Central  America.  On  the  2d  of  April  of  this 
year  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  discovered  the  North  American  con 
tinent,  in  30  degrees  8  minutes  north  latitude,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  Florida.  The  Spaniards  claimed  Florida  from 
this  discovery,  and  the  English  the  whole  continent  from  the 
prior  discoveries  of  the  Cabots. 

1524  John  de  Yerazzano,  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  in  the  service 
of  Francis  I.,  King  of  France,  coasted  along  the  shores  of 
North  America  between  the  28th  and  50th  degrees  of  north  lati 
tude,  and  called  the  country  New  France. 

1535  Jacques  Cartier,  under  a  commission  from  the  King  of 
France,  entered  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  upon  the  day  of  that 
saint,  from  which  circumstance  the  name  was  given  to  it.  Pro 
ceeding  thence  into  the  great  river  emptying  into  the  gulf,  he 
ascended  and  explored  it  for  three  hundred  leagues,  and,  tak 
ing  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  his  king,  called  it 
New  France.  He  gave  the  name  of  Montreal  to  a  large  Indian 
settlement  which  he  visited. 

By  this  time  the  Spaniards  had  discovered  and  conquered 
Mexico,  Peru,  and  other  southern  countries. 

1537     California  was  discovered  by  the  Spaniards  under  Cortez. 

1539  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  Governor  of  Cuba,  sailed  on  an  expedi 
tion  to  Florida,  to  explore  the  country  and  conquer  the  natives. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  3 

1541  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  having  spent  nearly  two  years  in  his 
wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  encountering  many  hardships 
and  disasters,  arrived  on  the  first  of  May  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  near  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Memphis,  and 
was  the  first  discoverer  of  that  great  river. 

1562  A  considerable  number  of  French  Protestants,  in  an  expedi 
tion  under  the  command  of  John  Ribault,  commenced  a  settle 
ment  on  the  island  of  Port  Royal,  in  the  present  State  of  South 
Carolina,  but  their  supplies  being  reduced,  they  were  forced 
to  abandon  the  country. 

1584  A  French  expedition,  under  the  command  of  Rene  Laudon- 
niere,  arrived  in  Florida  on  the  25th  of  June,  and  built  a  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  John's,  which  they  called  Fort 
Caroline.  This  fort  was  captured  by  the  Spaniards  in  the 
following  year,  and  nearly  all  the  French  were  massacred. 

1565  Don  Pedro  Melendez  was  sent  by  the  King  of  Spain  to  drive 
out  the  French  from  Florida.  He  arrived  there  in  August, 
and  on  the  8th  of  September  commenced  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  a  town,  which  he  named  St.  Augustine,  from  having  seen 
land  on  the  anniversary  of  that  saint.  This  is  the  oldest  town 
in  the  United  States. 

John  Ribault  sailed  on  a  second  vovage,  to  found  a  colony 
of  French  Protestants  in  America.  Arriving  off  the  coast  of 
Florida,  his  vessels  were  wrecked  on  the  rocks,  and  himself  and 
his  men  were  massacred  by  the  Spaniards. 

1568  Dominique  de  Gourges,  commanding  an  expedition  of  three 
ships,  sailed  from  France  for  Florida  to  take  revenge  against 
the  Spaniards  for  the  massacre  of  his  countrymen.  He  arrived 
there  in  April,  assaulted  and  took  the  Spanish  forts,  and  mur 
dered  large  numbers  of  the  garrisons. 

1580  New  Mexico  was  discovered  by  Augustin  Ruys,  a  Spanish 
missionary. 

1584  An  English  expedition,  sailing  under  a  patent  granted  to  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  visited  the  southern  parts 
of  North  America,  north  of  the  Spanish  possessions.  Upon  the 
return  home  of  the  adventurers  the  queen  gave  to  the  country 
they  had  explored  the  name  of  Virginia. 

1585  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  sent  another  expedition  to  America,  and 
planted  the  first  English  colony  in  the  Western  World.     The 
settlement  was  made  in  Carolina,  on  the  island  of  Roanoke,  but 
it  was  abandoned  the  next  year. 

1587  Raleigh  again  attempted  to  found  a  colony  in  America.  He 
sent  out  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  women  in  three  vessels, 
with  a  governor  and  council  for  the  government  of  the  colony; 
and  the  company  arrived  on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina  in 
July.  On  the  18th  of  August  a  daughter  of  the  governor  gave 
birth  to  a  child,  which  was  the  first  English  child  born  hi 
America.  This  colony  had  but  a  short  existence,  and  what 
became  the  fate  of  the  colonists  was  never  known. 

1602  Cape  Cod,  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  other  places  on  the  New 
England  coast  were  explored  by  an  English  expedition  under 
the  command  of  Bartholomew  Gosnold. 


4  HISTORY    OF    THE   UNITED    STATES. 

1606  King  James  of  England  granted  patents  to  two  corporations 
to  colonize  that  part  of  America  which  lies  between  the  34th 
and  45th  degrees  of  north  latitude.     The  southern  half  of  that 
territory  he  granted  to  the  London  Company;  the  northern,  to 
the  Plymouth  Company.     The  supreme  government  of   the 
colonies  that  were  to  be  settled,  was  vested  in  a  council  resi 
dent  in  England,  to  be  named  by  the  king,  according  to  such 
laws  and  ordinances  as  should  be  given  under  his  sign-man 
ual;  and  the    subordinate  jurisdiction    was  committed    to  a 
council  resident  in  America,  which  was  also  to  be  nominated 
by  the  king  and  to  act  conformably  to  his  instructions. 

1607  The  first  permanent  English  settlement  in  America  was  this 
year  established  in  Virginia  by  the  London  Company,  and  in 
honor  of  the  king  was  named  Jamestown. 

The  Plymouth  Company  sent  out  a  small  colony,  wrhich 
commenced  a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec  River. 
The  settlers,  however,  abandoned  the  country  in  the  following 
year  and  returned  to  England. 

1609  Hendrick  Hudson,  in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company 
of  Holland,  sailing  on  an  expedition  to  discover  a  western 
passage  to  the  East  Indies,  discovered  and  entered  the  river 
which  bears  his  name.  The  next  year  the  Dutch  sent  six  ships 
to  trade  with  the  natives  occupying  the  shores  of  that  river. 

In  September,  Jamestown  contained  between  fifty  and  sixty 
bouses.  In  that  place  and  the  surrounding  country  there  were 
about  five  hundred  colonists,  who  were  well  supplied  with 
tools,  arms,  and  ammunition.  They  commenced  the  manufac 
ture  of  glass,  so  as  to  furnish  beads  and  other  trinkets  for  traffic 
with  the  Indians. 

The  French  under  Champlain  explored  the  country  south  of 
Montreal,  and  discovered  the  lake  which  now  bears  his  name. 

1612  The  first  bricks  manufactured  in  America  were  made  by  the 
Virginia  colonists. 

1614  The  Dutch  built  a  fort  on  the  extremity  of  the  island  where 
the  city  of  New  York  now  stands,  and  another  at  or  near  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Albany,  and  called  their  possessions 
in  America  New  Netherlands. 

Captain  John  Smith  of  Virginia  ranged  the  coasts  from 
Cape  Cod  to  the  Penobscot,  and  gave  to  that  part  of  the  coun 
try  the  name  of  New  England. 

1616  Tobacco  about  this  time  began  to  be  cultivated  in  Virginia 
by  the  English. 

1618  A  number  of  Danes  emigrated  to  this  country  about  this 
time,  and  made  a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River, 
to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Bergen.     This  was  the  first 
settlement  in  New  Jersey. 

1619  The  people  in  Virginia  were  now  so  numerous  that  they 
established  a  provincial  assembly. 

Thomas  Dormer,  who  had  been  sent  out  from  England,  on  a 
fishing  voyage  coasted  from  Kennebec  to  Virginia,  sailing  be 
tween  the  main-land  and  Long  Island,  and  was  the  first  person 
who  ascertained  that  to  be  an  island. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  5 

1620  The  first  permanent  settlement  in  New  England  was  com 
menced  this  year.     A  large  number  of  the  English  Congrega 
tion  at  Leyden,  formed  of  Puritans  who  had  been  driven  out 
of  England  by  persecution,   sailed  from  Holland  in  July  to 
found  a  community  in  America.     After  a  long  and  boisterous 
voyage,  they  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Cape  Cod  on  the  llth 
of  November.     Before  landing,  all  the  men  signed  an  instru 
ment,  by  which  they  combined  themselves  into  a  body-politic, 
to  be  governed  by  the  will  of  the  majority,  thereby  establishing 
a  republican  form  of  government — the  first  of  its  kind  formed 
in  America.     This  contract  was  signed  by  forty-one  men,  who 
with  their  families  constituted  one  hundred  and  one  persons— 
the  whole  colony  that  arrived  in  New  England.     After  explor 
ing  the  coast,  they  agreed  upon  a  place  of  settlement,  and  landed, 
on  the  22d  of  December,  on  the  rock  which  posterity  has  marked 
in  commemoration  of  the  Pilgrims.     To  this  settlement  they 
gave  the  name  of  Plymouth,  in  memory  of  the  hospitalities 
which  the  company  had  received  at  the  English  port  where 
they  stopped  on  their  passage  over  from  Holland. 

Ninety  young  women  were  sent  from  England  to  Virginia 
by  the  London  Company,  and  a  price  was  fixed  for  each,  as  a 
charge  for  their  transportation,  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  of  tobacco,  to  be  paid  by  the  person  taking  any  one  of 
them  for  a  wife.  Sixty  more  were  sent  over  in  the  next  year. 

The  first  negro  slaves  imported  into  the  country  were  landed 
at  Jamestown  from  a  Dutch  vessel  and  sold. 

1621  Fiftv-five  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  were  exported  from 
Virginia  this  year. 

1623  The  first  settlements  in  New  Hampshire  were  made  at  this 
time,  at  several  places  on  the  Piscataqua  River,  under  a  patent 
granted  John  Mason  and  others. 

The  Dutch  commenced  laying  out  a  town  on  Manhattan 
Island,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  New  Amsterdam  ; 
and  the  building  of  a  fort  on  the  Delaware  River,  which  they 
called  Fort  Nassau. 

1624  Dissensions  among  the  members  of  the  London  Company, 
and  other  reasons,  led  the  king  to  seek  a  dissolution  of  its 
charter.     Legal  proceedings  were  therefore  instituted  to  that 
end,  and  the  charter  was  declared  vacated  and  the  Company 
dissolved. 

1625  Three  ships  and  a  yacht  arrived  at  Manhattan  Island  from 
Holland,  bringing  a  number  of  settlers,  and  one  hundred  head 
of  cattle. 

1626  On  the  4th  of  May  Peter  Minuit  arrived  at  Manhattan,  in 
the  capacity  of  Director-General  of  New  Netherlands.     He  or 
ganized  a  provisional  government,  and  purchased  Manhattan 
island  from  the  Indians. 

1627  The  use  of  wampum  as  a  currency  was  introduced  by  the 
Plymouth  colonists. 

A  company  was  formed  in  Sweden  to  encourage  colonization 
in  America;  and  a  number  of  Swedes  and  Finns  were  sent  over. 
They  first  landed  at  Cape  Henlopen,  and  some  time  after  pur- 


6  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

chased  from  the  natives  the^land  from  that  cape  to  the  Falls 
of  Delaware,  and  obtained  peaceable  possession. 

The  colonists  of  Plymouth  purchased  from  the  Plymouth 
Company  all  the  lands  and  interests  of  that  corporation  in 
America  for  £1800,  in  nine  equal  annual  payments. 

1628  The  foundation  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  was  laid  this 
year.     The  Council  for  New  England  on  the  19th  of  March 
sold  to  six  gentlemen,  residents  of  Dorchester  in  England,  a 
belt  of  land  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  extend 
ing  three  miles  south  of  the  river  Charles  and  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  three  miles  north  of  every  part  of  the  Merrimac  River. 
A  few  people  under  the  government  of  John  Endicot  were 
first  sent  over  to  prepare  for  settling  a  colony.     Endicot  on  his 
arrival  laid  the  foundation  of  Salem,  the  first  permanent  town 
in  Massachusetts. 

1629  The  Massachusetts  Company  on  the  4th  of  March  obtained  a 
charter  from  King  Charles  I. ,  by  which  the  company  was  in 
corporated  by  the  name  of  "  The  Governor  and  Company  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England  ;"  to  have  perpetual 
succession ;  empowered  to  elect  forever  out  of  the  freemen  of 
the  company  a  governor,  deputy  governor,  and  eighteen  assist 
ants,  to  be  newly  chosen  on  the  last  Wednesday  in  Easter  term 
yearly,  by  a  majority  of  the  company  ;  and  to  make  laws  not 
repugnant  to  those  of  England.      The  company  soon  after 
met  in  London  and  settled  a  form  of  government  for  the 
new  colony,  and  elected  John  Endicot  governor  for  the  first 
year.     It  was  also  agreed  that  every  member  who  had  ad 
vanced  £50  should  have  two  hundred  acres  of  land  assigned 
him,  and  that  fifty  acres  apiece  should  be  allowed  the  colonists 
who  emigrated  at  their  own  charge.     Several  persons  of  con 
siderable  importance  in  England  joined  the  company,  who, 
for  the  unmolested  enjoyment  of  their  religion,  resolved  to  re 
move  to  Massachusetts.     In  May,  three  ships  sailed  from  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  carrying  about  two  hundred  persons;  and  in 
June  arrived  at  Salem.     Some  of  the  colonists  being  dissatisfied 
with  that  place,  removed  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  town, 
which  they  named  Charlestown.     They  laid  out  the  town  in 
two-acre  lots,  one  of  which  was  assigned  to  each  inhabitant. 
The  people  at  Salem  commenced  at  once  the  manufacture  of 
brick,  and  built  the  first  brick-kiln  established  in  New  England. 

To  encourage  the  co-operation  of  capitalists  in  the  settlement 
of  New  Netherlands,  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  offered 
to  any  of  its  members  who  should  plant  a  colony  of  fifty  adults 
in  any  part  of  New  Netherlands,  excepting  on  Manhattan 
Island,  certain  exclusive  privileges,  coupled  with  certain  condi 
tions,  and  he  should  be  acknowledged  as  the  feudal  chief  or 
patroon  of  such  colony. 

John  Mason  procured  a  new  patent,  which  granted  to  him 
the  territory  between  the  Merrimac  and  Piscataqua  rivers,  which 
tract  was  afterward  called  New  Hampshire. 

1630  The  Massachusetts  Colony  was  augmented  by  the  arrival  of 
large  numbers  of  colonists,  many  of  whom  were  of  consid- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  7 

erable  standing.  Settlements  were  now  made  at  and  named 
Boston,  Watertown,  Dorchester,  and  Roxbury.  On  the  23d 
day  of  August  the  first  court  of  assistants  met  since  the  arrival 
of  the  colonists,  and  voted  that  houses  should  be  built,  and  sala 
ries  raised  for  the  ministers  at  the  common  charge. 

1631  The  settlement  of  Portsmouth  in  New  Hampshire,  and  of 
Newtown,  afterward  called  Cambridge,  in  Massachusetts,  was 
commenced. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  having  in  the  year  before  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  tract  of  land  since  formed  into  and  known  as 
the  Connecticut  Colony,  assigned  it  over  on  the  19th  of  March 
to  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  Lord  Brooke,  John  Hampden,  and 
others. 

1632  The  erection   of    the  first  church   in   Boston   was   com 
menced. 

King  Charles  I.  granted  a  patent  to  Lord  Baltimore  of  the 
tract  of  land  in  America  bounded  by  the  ocean,  the  fortieth 
degree  of  latitude,  the  meridian  of  the  western  head  of  the  Po 
tomac,  the  river  itself  from  its  source  to  its  mouth,  and  a  line 
drawn  due  east  from  Watkins  Point  to  the  Atlantic,  and  gave 
that  territory  the  name  of  Maryland,  in  honor  of  the  queen. 

1633  A  few  emigrants  from  the  Plymouth  Colony  made  a  settle 
ment  on  the  Connecticut  River,  at  the  place  since  called  Wind 
sor.     Upon  ascending  the  river  their  passage  was  unsuccess 
fully  opposed  by  the  Dutch,  who  had  established  a  fort  on  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Hartford.     At  Windsor  the  settlers 
immediately  commenced  the  erection  of  a  house  from  materials 
brought  with  them  from  Plymouth.     This  was  the  first  house 
built  in  Connecticut. 

The  first  church  on  Manhattan  Island  was  erected  this  year, 
on  the  site  of  the  present  Pearl  Street,  between  Broad  and 
Whitehall  streets. 

1634  The  first  market,  tavern,  and  store  established   in  Boston 
were  set  up  this  year. 

The  custom  of  preaching  election-day  sermons,  which  pre 
vailed  in  New  England  more  than  two  hundred  years,  started, 
and  continued,  upon  the  commencement  of  the  practice  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Cotton  in  Massachusetts  upon  the  general  election  for 
magistrates  held  on  the  24th  of  May. 

Lord  Baltimore  sent  about  two  hundred  Roman  Catholic 
colonists  to  Maryland  to  found  a  settlement.  Upon  their  ar 
rival,  they  purchased  an  Indian  town,  to  which  they  gave  the 
name  of  St.  Mary's. 

1635  On  the  20th  of  October,  about  sixty  men,  women,  and  chil 
dren,  with  their  horses,  cattle,  and  swine,  commenced  a  re 
moval  from    Massachusetts    through  the  wilderness   to    the 
Connecticut  River.     Some  of  these  settled  at  Windsor;  others 
at  the  place  afterward  called  Hartford;  and  others  began  a  set 
tlement  which  they  called  Wethersfield. 

Men,  ordnance,  ammunition,  and  £2000  sterling  were  sent 
over  from  England  to  build  and  fortify  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Connecticut  River.  This  fort  was  given  the  name  of  Say- 


8  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

brook  Fort,  in  honor  of  Lord  Say  and  Seal  and  Lord  Brooke, 
two  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Connecticut  patent. 

The  authorities  of  Massachusetts  enacted  a  law  that  musket 
bullets  should  be  used  as  currency. 

1636  The  ministers  of  Newtown  in  Massachusetts,  Hooker  and 
Stone,  with  their  entire  congregation,  removed  to  the  settlement 
on   Connecticut   River,   which    the   next  year   received    the 
name  of  Hartford.     They  purchased  the  land  from  the  Indians, 
and  commenced  to  lay  out  a  town. 

Springfield  was  settled  early  in  the  year  by  William  Pynchon 
and  others  from  Roxbury. 

Roger  Williams,  having  been  banished  from  Massachusetts 
on  account  of  religious  differences,  and,  refused  an  asylum  in 
the  Plymouth  Colony,  travelled  southward  with  some  fol 
lowers,  and  planted  a  settlement  which  he  named  Providence. 

1637  The  Pequot  Indians  having  murdered  some  of  the  colonists 
and  committed  some  depredations,  the  colonists  of  the  three 
towns  on  the  Connecticut  River  organized  a  body  of  troops  who, 
with  about  five  hundred  friendly  Indians,  marched  into  the 
Pequot  country  and  attacked  one  of  their  forts.     In  this  con 
flict  about  seventy  wigwams  were  burned  and   between  five 
and  seven  hundred  of  the  enemy  perished,  either  by  the  sword 
or  flames.      Other  expeditions  against    the  unfriendly  tribe 
were  instituted,  and  by  their  success  hostilities  ceased  for  a 
time. 

1638  John  Davenport,  a  celebrated  minister  of  London,  accom 
panied  by  Theophilus  Eaton  and  Edward  Hopkins,  merchants 
of  that  city,  with  several  other  respectable  persons,  arrived  at 
Boston  in  the  preceding  year.     Some  of  their  number  were  sent 
to  Connecticut  to  explore  the  coast  to  discover  a  suitable  place 
for  settlement,  which  they  found  at  Quinnipiack.     Here  they 
erected  a  hut,  in  which  a  few  men  remained  through  the  winter. 
The  way  being  prepared,  the  company  sailed  from  Boston  on 
the  30th -of  March,  and  in  about  two  weeks  arrived  at  their 
destination.    They  purchased  two  large  tracts  of  land  from  the 
Indians,  and  near  the  bay  of  Quinnipiack  laid  out  a  town  in 
squares,  and  called  it  New  Haven. 

Eighteen  emigrants  from  Massachusetts  purchased  an  island 
in  Narragansett  Bay  from  the  natives,  formed  themselves  into  a 
body-politic  and  commenced  the  settlement  of  Newport. 

Harvard  College  was  founded  at  Newtown,  and  the  name  of 
that  place  changed  to  Cambridge. 

The  town  of  Exeter  in  New  Hampshire  was  founded. 

1639  The  members  of  the  Connecticut  Colony  adopted  a  constitu 
tion  of  government,  and  chose  John  Haynes  governor.    The 
New  Haven  Colony  was  similarly  constituted,  and  Theophilus 
Eaton   chosen   governor.      Settlers    from  the   New   Haven 
Colony  founded  the  towns  of  Milford,  Guilford,  Stratford,  and 
Fairneld. 

George  Fenwick,  a  gentleman  of  considerable  wealth,  founded 
the  town  of  Saybrook. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  9 

The  first  printing-press  in  North  America  was  set  up  this 
year  by  Stephen  Day,  at  Cambridge  in  Massachusetts. 

General  assemblies  in  Plymouth  and  in  Maryland  con 
vened  this  year  for  the  first  time. 

1640  About  forty  families  from  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  emigrated 
to  Long  Island,  and  founded  the  town  of  Southampton. 

Settlements  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  New  Haven  Colony 
were  made  on  both  sides  of  Delaware  River  and  Bay;  also  on 
Long  Island,  where  the  settlers  founded  the  town  of  Southold. 

The  first  book  printed  on  the  continent  north  of  Mexico  was 
published  this  year  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  was 
titled  "  The  Bay  Psalms  Book." 

The  first  distillation  of  brandy  in  the  colonies  was  com 
menced  by  the  Dutch  on  Staten  Island. 

1641  The  manufacture  of  rope  was  commenced  in  Boston.     Here 
tofore  it  was  only  obtained  from  England. 

1642  New  England  at  this  time  contained  about  fifty  towns  and 
villages. 

A  settlement  on  the  island  of  Martha's  Vineyard  was  com 
menced  by  Thomas  Mayhew. 

A  stone  chuich  and  a  stone  tavern  were  erected  at  New 
Amsterdam.  The  tavern  was  built  on  the  East  River  near  the 
present  Coenties  Slip,  and  was  afterward  converted  by  the 
Dutch  into  a  City  Hall. 

1643  The  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  New  Haven,  and 
Connecticut  united  in  a  confederation  for  amity,  offence  and 
defence,  and  mutual  advice  and  assistance,  under  the ,  title  of 
The  United  Colonies  of  New  England. 

The  English  Parliament  passed  an  ordinance  appointing  the 
Earl  of  Warwick  governor-in-chief  and  lord  high  admiral  of 
the  American  colonies,  with  a  council  of  five  peers  and  twelve 
commoners.  It  empowered  him,  in  conjunction  with  his  as 
sociates,  to  examine  the  state  of  their  affairs,  to  send  for  papers 
and  persons,  to  remove  governors  and  officers  and  appoint 
others  in  their  places, and  to  assign  over  to  these  such  part  of  the 
powers  that  were  now  granted  as  he  should  think  proper. 

The  colonists  in  New  Netherlands  suffered  from  the  ravages 
and  depredations  of  the  Indians  in  this  and  the  next  year. 

1644  Roger  Williams  obtained  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick  a  patent 
for  the  incorporation  of  the  towns  of  Providence,  Newport,  and 
Portsmouth. 

A  terrible  massacre  was  committed  upon  the  English  in 
Virginia  by  the  Indians,  who  had  confederated  to  exterminate 
the  colonists.  The  massacre  began  in  the  out-parts  of  the 
colony,  and  continued  two  days.  Three  hundred  of  the  English 
were  killed. 

The  settlement  of  Hempstead,on  Long  Island,  was  commenced 
by  some  emigrants  from  England. 

1645  In  the  colony  of  Connecticut  there  were  now  eight  towns: 
Hartford,   Windsor>   Wethersfield,   Stratford,   Fairneld,  Say- 
brook,  Farmington,  and  Southampton  on  Long  Island.     In  the 
colony  of  New  Haven  there  were  six:  New  Haven,  Milford, 


10  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Guilford,  Stamford,  Branford,  and  Southold  on  Long  Is 
land. 

Massachusetts  passed  the  first  law  in  New  England  for  estab 
lishing  public  schools. 

William  Clayborn  and  Richard  Ingle  raised  a  rebellion  in 
Maryland,  seized  the  administration,  and  compelled  Governor 
Calvert  to  flee  to  Virginia.  The  rebels  exercised  the  govern 
ment  of  the  province  more  than  a  year,  and  distinguished  the 
period  of  their  dominion  by  disorder  and  misrule. 

John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  with  some  associates,  obtained  from  the 
town  of  Boston  three  thousand  acres  of  the  common  lands  at 
Braintree,  for  an  encouragement  or  bounty  for  setting  up  iron 
works,  and  a  monopoly  of  that  business  for  twenty-one  years. 

1646  John  Eliot,  a    minister    of  Roxbury,   Massachusetts,  com 
menced  his  labors  among  the  Indians,  which  procured  for  him 
the  title  of  "  The  Indian  Apostle." 

A  settlement  on  Long  Island,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Brooklyn,  was  already  commenced,  and  now  it  received  a  village 
charter  under  the  name  of  "  Breuckelen,"  from  the  ancient 
village  of  the  same  name  in  Holland.  The  settlement  was  es 
tablished  on  the  present  Fulton  Avenue  near  Hoyt  and  Smith 
streets.  There  were  a  few  houses  at  the  water's  edge  near  the 
present  Fulton  Ferry.  This  hamlet  was  known  as  ' '  The  Ferry. " 

1647  The  freemen  of  the  several  settlements  on  Rhode  Island  con 
vened  for  the  first  time  in  general  assembly,  and  established  a 
code  of  laws. 

1648  '  The  first  instance  of  capital  punishment  for  witchcraft  occur 
ring  in  colonial  history  was  this  year,  in  Massachusetts. 

The  settlement  of   New  London,  in  Connecticut,  was  com 
menced. 
1650     Negro  slaves  were  introduced  into  New  Netherlands  about 

this  time. 

1652     The  Swedes  attacked  and  took  a  fort  which  the  Dutch  had 
established  on  the  Delaware  in  the  preceding  year. 

A  mint  for  coining  money  was  erected  in  Massachusetts. 
The  money  coined  was  in  shillings,  sixpences,  and  threepences. 

The  settlement  of  Newtown  and  Flatbush,  on  Long  Island, 
was  commenced  under  patents  of  the  Dutch  governor. 

The  first  iron  forge  in  America  was  established  this  year  in 
Raynham,  a  town  of  the  Plymouth  Colony. 

1654  The  inhabitants  of  Flatbush  erected  a  church,  which  was 
the  first  one  built  on  Long  Island. 

1655  The  Dutch,  under  Governor  Stuyvesant,  sailed  from  New 
Amsterdam  on  an  expedition  against  the  Swedes  on  the  Dela 
ware.   The  Swedish  forts  were  all  taken,  and  the  garrisons  sur 
rendered.     Some  of  the  Swedes  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Dutch  Government.     The  rest  returned  to  Sweden. 

A  conflict  took  place  between  the  Catholics  and  Protestants 
in  Maryland,  and  several  were  killed. 

1656  The  first  Quakers  that  appeared  in  New  England  arrived  this 
year  in  Massachusetts,  and  were  banished  the  colony. 

At  this  period  New  Amsterdam  contained  seventeen  streets, 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  11 

one  hundred  and  twenty  houses,  and  about  one  thousand  inhab 
itants. 

1658  The  settlement  of    Stonington,   in  Connecticut,  was  com 
menced.     The  place  was  first  called  Southerton. 

Stone  pavements  were  now  laid  in  New  Amsterdam.  The 
street  first  paved  still  retains  the  name  of  "  Stone  street." 

1659  Two  Quakers  who  returned  to  Massachusetts  after  banishment 
were  executed.     Another  one,  a  woman,  was  convicted  and  sen 
tenced  to  die,  but  was  reprieved  on  condition  of  her  departure 
from  the  jurisdiction  within  forty-eight  hours.     The  woman 
returned  again,  and  was  also  executed  in  the  next  year. 

Thomas  Macy,  with  his  family,  removed  from  Massachusetts, 
and  commenced  the  first  settlement  on  Nantucket. 

The  manufacture  of  bricks  was  now  commenced  at  New 
Amsterdam,  and  brick  buildings  from  this  time  began  to 
be  erected,  Before  this  bricks  had  been  imported  from  Hol 
land,  and  used  only  for  chimneys  and  ovens. 

1660  New  England  contained  at  this  time  about  thirty-eight  thou 
sand  inhabitants,  Maryland  twelve  thousand,   and  Virginia 
thirty  thousand. 

1681     The  translation  ^ of  the  New  Testament  into  the  Indian  lan 
guage  by  John  Eliot  was  printed  this  year. 

1662  Connecticut  obtained  a  charter  from  King  Charles  II.,  under 
which  the  colony  was  granted  many  important  privileges. 

The  Virginia  Legislature  passed  stringent  laws  against  Quak 
ers,  and  sectarians  of  every  denomination. 

Two  licensers  of  the  press  were  appointed  in  Massachusetts. 

A  few  French  Protestant  refugees  were  granted  leave  by  the 
authorities  of  Massachusetts  to  reside  in  that  colony. 

Maryland  passed  an  Act  to  establish  a  mint. 

1663  King  Charles  II.  granted  a  charter  to  the  Earl  of  Clarendon 
and  associates  for  colonizing  and  for  the  government  of  the  coun 
try  lying  between  the  31st  and  36th  degrees  north  latitude. 
The  name  of  Carolina  was  given  to  the  new  province. 

King  Charles  II.  conferred  a  charter  on  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations. 

An  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  to  monopolize  the  colonial 
trade  for  England.  All  goods  purchased  in  Europe  by  the  colo 
nists  must  pass  through  the  British  ports. 

On  the  7th  of  June  the  Dutch  settlement  of  Esopus,  since 
called  Kingston,  was  attacked  by  the  Indians.  Twenty  one  of 
the  inhabitants  were  massacred  and  forty-five  carried  away 
captive.  A  new  settlement  near  by,  called  the  "Rondout," 
was  almost  annihilated  by  the  savages. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Indian  language,  by 
John  Eliot,  was  printed  this  year. 

1664  King  Charles  II.  granted  a  patent  to  his  brother,  the  Duke 
of  York  and  Albany,  for  several  tracts  of  land  in  America,  a 
part  of  which  territory  was  subsequently  reconveyed  to  Lord 
Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  under  the  name  of  New  Jer 
sey. 

An  expedition  was  fitted  out  in  England,  under  the  command 


12  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  Richard  Nichols,  for  the  conquest  of  the  Dutch  in  America, 
Nichols  appeared  in  the  harbor  of  New  Amsterdam  in  August, 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  town  and  fort  from  Gov 
ernor  Stuyvesant.  Letters  and  messages  were  exchanged,  and 
at  length  the  Dutch  governor  agreed  to  capitulate.  Articles  to 
that  end  were  signed  on  the  27th  of  August.  By  the  terms 
of  the  surrender  the  Dutch  were  to  continue  free  denizens, 
to  retain  their  estates,  to  enjoy  their  ancient  customs  with 
regard  to  inheritances,  to  enjoy  their  modes  of  worship  and 
church  discipline,  and  they  were  allowed  a  freedom  of  trade  to 
Holland.  In  honor  of  the  Duke  of  York,  New  Amsterdam 
now  took  the  name  of  New  York.  On  the  24th  of  September 
the  Dutch  garrison  and  settlement  at  Fort  Orange  surrendered 
to  the  English,  and  in  honor  of  the  Duke  the  place  was  called 
Albany.  On  the  1st  of  October  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  on 
the  Delaware  capitulated.  The  English  now  exercised  domin 
ion  over  all  New  Netherlands. 

The  settlement  of  Newark,  Middletown,  Shrewsbury,  and 
Elizabethtown,  in  New  Jersey,  was  commenced  by  removals 
from  New  England  and  Long  Island. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  passed  a  law  prohibiting 
the  establishment  of  any  printing-press,  excepting  in  the  town  of 
Cambridge. 

Nichols  made  a  treaty  with  the  Indians  of  the  Five  Nations, 
by  which  they  ceded  their  lands  and  submitted  to  the  King  of 
England. 

1665  The  colonies  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  formed  a  union, 
uniting  into  one  colony  under  the  name  of  the  latter.     There 
were  now  nineteen  towns  in  the  united  colonies.     The  town  of 
Branford  dissented  from  this  union,  and  most  of  the  inhabi 
tants  removed  to  Newark,  in  New  Jersey. 

The  city  of  New  York  was  incorporated,  and  a  mayor,  five 
aldermen,  and  a  sheriff  were  chosen. 

t  Emigrants  from  Barbadoes  commenced  a  settlement  in  Caro 
lina  under  the  leadership  of  John  Yeamans,  who  was  appointed 
Governor  of  the  County  of  Clarendon,  which  had  lately  been 
laid  out  by  the  proprietors  of  the  province. 

St.  Augustine,  in  Florida,  was  sacked  and  plundered  by 
John  Davis,  a  pirate. 

1666  Connecticut  established  four  counties :  Hartford,  New  Haven, 
New  London,  and  Fairfield,  with  a  court  in  each  county. 

The  first  church  built  in  Brooklyn  was  erected  this  year,  on 
the  site  of  Fulton  Avenue,  near  Lawrence  Street. 
1668     The  province  of  Maine,  upon  application  of  some  of  its  in 
habitants,  was  put  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  granted  to  Daniel  Gookin 
and  others  a  township  of  land  eight  miles  square,  by  the  name 
of  Worcester. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  within  the  limits  of  the  pres 
ent  State  of  Michigan  was  made  this  year,  by  Father  Mar- 
quette,  a  French  missionary,  who  established  a  mission  at 
Sault  Ste.  Marie. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  13 

1669  The  Old  South  Church  in  Boston  was  erected  this  year. 
This  was  the  third  church  built  in  Boston. 

1670  A  colony  of  settlers  arrived  in  Carolina  from  England,  and 
commenced  a  settlement  on  the  neck  of  land  between  the  Ash 
ley  and  Cooper  rivers,  where  in  the  next  year  they  founded 
a  town,  which  they  called  Charlestown. 

1671  Virginia,  at  this  period,  contained  about  forty  thousand  in 
habitants,  of  whom  two  thousand  were  slaves. 

The  Assembly  of  Maryland  passed  an  act  encouraging  the  im 
portation  of  negro  slaves. 

1672  The  English  Parliament  passed  an  act  imposing  customs  upon 
the  colonies,  to  be  collected  by  revenue-officers  to  be  appointed 
by  the  crown. 

The  whale-fishery  business  was  commenced  at  Nantucket. 

1673  A  war  having  broken  out  between  England  and  Holland,  the 
Dutch  sent  an  expedition  to  destroy  the  commerce  of  the  Eng 
lish  colonies  in  America.    After  ravaging  the  coast  of  Virginia, 
learning  the  defenceless  condition  of  New  York,  the  Dutch 
proceeded  to  that  city  and  forced  its  surrender,  and  soon  after 
compelled  all  New  Netherlands  to  submission.     This  conquest 
extended  to  the  whole  province  of  New  Jersey.     Upon  the  exe 
cution  of  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  two  nations  in  the  fol 
lowing  year  these  possessions  were  restored  to  the  English. 

New  England,  it  was  estimated,  contained  at  this  time  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  fifteen 
hundred  families  resided  in  Boston. 

The  first  mail  between  Boston  and  New  York  was  established 
this  year,  ' '  for  a  more  speedy  intelligence  and  despatch  of  af 
fairs."  The  letters  were  to  be  carried  by  a  messenger,  who  was 
directed  to  go  and  return  once  a  month. 

The  Mississippi  River  was  explored  for  a  considerable  por 
tion  of  its  length  by  Father  Marquette,  a  French  missionary, 
and  Joliet,  a  citizen  of  Quebec. 

1674  The  authorities  in  Massachusetts  granted  to  John  Foster  the 
privilege  of  setting  up  a  printing-press  in  Boston. 

1675  A  war  commenced  between  Philip,  a  king  of  one  of  the  In 
dian  tribes  in  New  England,  and  the  colonists,  which  soon  ex 
tended  to  other  tribes,  and  lasted  more  than  a  year.     The 
colonists  experienced  great  cruelties  and  suffering,  and  lost 
about  six  hundred,  who  were  either  massacred  or  taken  captive. 
Twelve  or  thirteen  towns  were  destroyed. 

1676  A  rebellion  broke  out  in  Virginia  under  the  leadership  of 
Nathaniel  Bacon,  which  cost  the  colony  £100,000.     The  prin 
cipal  causes  of  this  rebellion  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  ex 
tremely  low  price  of  tobacco,  and  the  ill-treatment  of  the  plant 
ers  in  the  exchange  of  goods  for  it ;  the  splitting  of  the  colony 
into  proprietaries,  contrary  to  the  original  charters,  and  the  ex 
travagant  taxes  to  which  they  were  subjected  to  relieve  them 
selves  from  those  grants  ;  the  heavy  restraints  and  burdens  laid 
upon  their  trade  by  act  of  parliament ;  and  the  disturbance 
given  by  the  Indians. 

New  Jersey  was  now  divided  into  two  parts,  called  East 


14  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

Jersey  and  West  Jersey.    East  Jersey  was  governed  by  Carte- 
ret,  and  West  Jersey  became  a  dependency  of  New  York. 

1677  The  province  of  Maine  was  purchased  of  its  proprietor  by 
an  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  in  England.     From  this 
time  Maine  formed  a  part  of  Massachusetts. 

Burlington,  in  West  Jersey,  was  laid  out  and  soon  settled  by 
English  emigrants. 

A  collector  of  customs  was  sent  from  England  to  Carolina, 
who  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the  people.  An  insurrec 
tion  broke  out,  and  the  insurgents  overturned  the  government, 
which  they  exercised  for  two  years  with  all  the  authority  of  an 
independent  State. 

The  authorities  of  Massachusetts  passed  a  new  law  for  the 
apprehension  and  punishment  of  every  person  found  in  attend 
ance  at  a  Quaker  meeting. 

A  postal  system  was  inaugurated  in  Massachusetts  to  insure 
regularity  in  the  delivery  of  mail.  Heretofore  it  had  been  the 
custom  to  deposit  letters  at  the  Town  House,  to  be  taken  and 
forwarded  at  the  pleasure  of  those  who  visited  the  place. 

1678  The  province  of  New  York  contained  at  this  time  about 
twenty-four  towns  and  villages.     There  were  three  hundred 
and  forty -three  houses  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

1679  A  collector  of  royal  customs  for  New  England  was  now  ap 
pointed,  and  Edward  Randolph  was  sent  over  in  that  capacity. 
Upon  his  arrival  at  Boston  he  was  considered  as  an  enemy  and 
opposed  by  the  people,  who  considered  their  chartered  privi 
leges  invaded. 

A  conflagration  broke  out  in  Boston  about  midnight  on  the 
8th  of  August,  and  destroyed  above  eighty  dwellings,  seventy 
warehouses,  and  a  large  amount  of  property.  The  loss  was 
computed  to  be  £200,000. 

La  Salle  built  a  ship  on  Niagara  Eiver,  above  the  Falls,  and 
sailed  into  Lake  Erie.  This  was  the  first  vessel  ever  seen  on 
the  great  lakes.  In  this  vessel  La  Salle  sailed  across  Lake  Erie 
and  through  the  strait  and  lake  which  he  named  St.  Clair,  and 
through  Lake  Huron  into  Lake  Michigan,  where  he  constructed 
a  trading  house  at  Mackinaw.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Green 
Bay.  From  that  place  he  sent  his  vessel  back  with  a  cargo  of 
rich  furs,  and  he  proceeded  with  a  part  of  his  company  in 
canoes,  fifteen  hundred  miles  from  the  nearest  French  settle 
ment,  into  the  Illinois  country,  where  he  erected  a  fort  near 
Lake  Peoria. 

1680  By  orders  from  England,  New  Hampshire  was  now  set  apart 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts  and  erected  into  a  sepa 
rate  province,  against  the  will  of  the  inhabitants.     The  first  pro 
vincial  assembly  convened  at  Portsmouth  on  the  16th  of  March. 

Connecticut  contained  at  this  time  twenty-six  towns,  and 
Rhode  Island  nine. 

The  foundation  of  a  new  town  in  Carolina  was  laid,  and 
called  Charlestown.  The  inhabitants  of  the  old  town  called 
by  that  name  removed  to  the  new  place,  and  it  was  made  the 
seat  of  government. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  15 

The  upper  part  of  the  Mississippi  River  was  explored  this 
year  by  Father  Hennepin.  He  discovered  the  falls  which  he 
named  the  "  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua." 

1681  William  Penn  received  on  the  4th  of  March  from  King 
Charles  II.  a  charter  and  grant  of  the  lands  in  America  lying 
between  Delaware  Bay  and  River  and  the  province  of  Maryland, 
to  which  territory  was  given  the  name  of  Pennsylvania,     Ad 
vertising  this  fact,  many  single  persons  and  families,  chiefly  of 
the  Quaker  denomination,  prepared  to  remove  from  England 
to  the  new  province.     A  number  of  merchants  formed  an  associ 
ation  and  purchased  from  Penn  twenty  thousand  acres  for  £400. 
On  the  llth  of  July  Penn  entered  into  certain  articles  with  the 
purchasers  and  adventurers,  which  were  entitled  "Conditions 
and  Concessions."    The  preliminaries  being  settled,  a  colony 
was  sent  over  during  the  year,  and  upon  its  arrival  commenced 
a  settlement  above  the  confluence  of  the  Schuylkill  and  the 
Delaware. 

1682  William  Penn  published  a  frame  of  government  for  the  new 
province,  with  a  'body  of  laws  agreed  upon  in  England  between 
himself  and  the  purchasers.     To  prevent  all  future  pretence  of 
claim  to  the  province  by  the  Duke  of  York,  he  obtained  from 
him  a  deed  of  release  for  it.     In  the  month  of  August,  Penn, 
accompanied  by  about  one  hundred  colonists,  chiefly  Quakers, 
embarked  for  America,  and  landed  at  Newcastle  on  the  24th  of 
October.     On  the  4th  of  December  he  called  an  assembly  of  the 
people  at  the  place  since  called  Chester,  and  instituted  laws  for 
the  government  of  the  province.     He  then  entered  into  a  treaty 
with  the  Indians,  and  made  purchases  of  some  of  their  lands. 
Penn  next  proceeded  to  lay  out  a  place  for  a  proposed  city,  to 
\vhich  he  had  already  assigned  the  name  of  Philadelphia.     The 
city  was  immediately  begun,  and  within  less  than  a  year  eighty 
houses  and  cottages  were  built. 

Newark,  in  East  Jersey,  contained  at  this  time  about  one 
hundred  families.  Settlements  were  commenced  this  year  on 
the  Jersey  shore  of  the  Delaware  by  three  hundred  and  sixty 
emigrants  from  Europe. 

At  this  period  New  Hampshire  contained  about  four  thousand 
inhabitants. 

M.  de  la  Salle  descended  the  Illinois  into  the  Mississippi,  and 
down  that  riv^r  to  the  sea,  and  formally  taking  possession  of 
all  the  country  watered  by  that  river  for  the  King  of  France, 
named  it,  in  his  honor,  Louisiana. 

The  first  English  settlements  west  of  the  Alleghanies  were 
now  made  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  near  the  site  of 
the  present  city  of  Alton,  in  Illinois. 

1683  About  twenty  families  from  Germany  arrived  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  commenced  a  settlement  about  seven  miles  from 
Philadelphia,  which  they  called  Germantown. 

On  the  17th  of  October,  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  of 
New  York  convened  for  the  first  time  in  general  assembly  at 
the  city  of  New  York,  and  passed  several  important  laws. 

A  controversy  having  arisen  between  Massachusetts  and  tlic 


16  HISTOKY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

crown,  principally  concerning  the  collection  of  royal  customs 
at  Boston,  an  order  of  council  was  passed  on  the  26th  of  July 
for  issuing  a  quo  warranto  against  the  charter  of  Massachusetts, 
with  a  declaration  from  the  king  that  if  the  colony  before 
prosecution  would  make  full  submission  and  resignation  to  his 
pleasure,  he  would  regulate  their  charter  for  his  service  and 
their  good,  and  with  no  further  alterations  than  should  be 
necessary  for  the  support  of  his  government  there.  The  propo 
sition  of  the  king  divided  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  The 
.governor  and  a  majority  of  the  assistants  voted  not  to  contend 
in  law,  but  to  submit  to  the  king's  pleasure.  The  representa 
tives,  after  a  fortnight's  consideration,  refused  their  concurrence 
in  this  vote,  and  a  letter  of  attorney  was  sent  to  an  agent  in 
England  to  appear  and  answer  in  behalf  of  the  colony. 

The  first  printing-press  set  up  in  the  colonies  south  of  Bos 
ton  was  introduced  about  this  time  into  Virginia,  and  immedi 
ately  suppressed  by  the  governor.  This  action  was  approved 
by  the  king,  and  he  sent  positive  instructions  that  no  printing- 
press  should  be  allowed  in  Virginia. 

1684  On  the  18th  of  June  the  High  Court  of  Chancery,  in  Eng 
land,  gave  judgment  for  the  king  against  the  colony  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  their  charter  was  declared  forfeited,  and  the  liberties 
of  the  colonists  seized  into  the  hands  of  the  king. 

The  Indians  composing  the  Five  Nations  made  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  English,  at  a  grand  convention  held  at  Albany 
on  the  3d  of  August. 

Philadelphia  now  contained  three  hundred  houses  and  about 
two  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  French  erected  a  fort  at  the  falls  of  Niagara. 

1685  King  Charles  II.  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
under  the  title  of  James  II.     The  new  king  caused  a  quo  war 
ranto  to  be  issued  against  the  charters  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Connecticut.     A  collector  of  royal  customs  was  established  in 
Carolina  at  the  port  of  Charlestown. 

The  first  printing-press  established  in  Pennsylvania  was  set 
up  this  year,  near  Philadelphia,  by  William  Bradford.  The 
first  publication  was  an  almanac. 

1686  The  attorney-general  of  England  was  ordered  to  prosecute 
writs  of  quo  warranto  against"  East  and  West  Jersey.     King 
James,  designing  to  establish  an  arbitrary  government  for  New 
York,  deprived  that  province  of  its  immunities.     He  also  or 
dered  that  no  printing-press  should  be  established  there. 

Sir  Edmund  Andros  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  20th  of  De 
cember,  with  a  commission  from  the  king  for  the  government 
of  New  England.  Among  his  instructions  was  one  that  no 
printing-press  should  be  allowed.  He  was  also  instructed  to 
give  universal  toleration  in  religion  but  encouragement  to  the 
Church  of  England;  to  execute  the  laws  of  trade,  and  prevent 
frauds  in  customs.  To  support  his  authority,  two  companies 
of  soldiers  were  sent  over  from  England.  Immediately  after 
his  arrival  Andros  proceeded  to  Rhode  Island,  dissolved  the 
government,  and  assumed  the  administration. 


IIISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  17 

Under  the  encouragement  of  the  new  administration  an 
Episcopal  society  was  organized  in  Boston,  which  was  the  first 
in  that  place. 

1687  Andros  introduced  the  Episcopal  service  in  the  Old  South 
Church  in  Boston,  against  the  will  of  its  proprietors.     In  Oc 
tober  Andros  went  to  Hartford,  accompanied  by  his  troops, 
where  the  general  assembly  was  in  session,  and,  demanding  the 
surrender  of  the  Connecticut  charter,  declared  the  government 
under  it  to  be  dissolved.    The  charter,  however,  was  preserved, 
through  the  zeal  of  Captain  Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  who  se 
creted  it  in  the  hollow  of  an  oak-tree.      That  tree,  known  in 
history  as  the  Charter  Oak,  was  held  in  veneration  until  it  was 
blown  down  by  a  storm  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
afterward. 

1688  The  administration  of  the  government  by  Andros  was  so  op 
pressive  to  the  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts,  they  despatched 
an  agent  to  England  to  represent  their  grievances  to  the  king. 

The  first  Episcopal  church  edifice  in  Massachusetts  was  built 
in  Boston  and  called  the  King's  Chapel. 

1689  The  news  of  the  abdication  of  King  James  and  of  the  acces 
sion  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne  arrived  in  Boston  in 
May.     In  April,  before  the  news  of  the  revolution  in  England 
had  reached  America,  the  people  of  Boston  and  the  surround 
ing  country  rose  in  arms,  seized  and  confined  Andros,  and  such 
of  the  council  as  had  been  most  active,  together  with  several  of 
the  inhabitants  who  had  made  themselves  obnoxious,  and  re 
instated  the  old  magistrates  in  power. 

The  freemen  of  Rhode  Island,  on  hearing  of  the  imprison 
ment  of  Andros,  met  at  Newport  on  the  first  of  May,  and 
voted  to  resume  their  charter;  and  replaced  all  the  general  offi- 
cers  who  had  been  displaced  three  years  before. 

The  government  of  Connecticut  was  re-established  by  the 
freemen  of  that  colony  in  May,  and  the  laws  which  had  been 
suspended  were  declared  to  have  the  same  force  as  they  had 
before. 

Information  of  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the 
throne  was  received  in  New  York  with  great  satisfaction. 
About  fifty  of  the  inhabitants  seized  the  garrison,  formed  them 
selves  into  a  committee  of  safety  to  hold  and  rule  the  province 
until  the  government  should  be  established  by  the  new  king. 
A  bitter  strife  and  feud  were  now  inaugurated  between  two  con 
tending  factions  of  the  citizens  for  the  temporary  control  of  the 
government. 

New  Rochelle,  in  New  York,  was  settled  this  year  by  a 
colony  of  French  Huguenots.  The  French  language  was 
chiefly  spoken  there  for  at  least  two  generations. 

1690  The  French  in  Canada  organized  three  expeditions,  com 
posed  of  French  and  Indians,  to  devastate  the  English  colonies. 
One  party  entered  the  village  of  Schenectadv  on  the  night  of 
the    eighth   of    February,    surprised    the    inhabitants   when 
asleep,  and  set  the  town  on  fire.     Sixty  men,  women,  and 
children  were  massacred,  and  twenty-seven  carried  away  pris- 


18  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

oners;  the  rest  fled,  nearly  naked,  towards  Albany.  Another 
party  surprised  Salmon  Falls,  in  New  Hampshire,  on  the  18th 
of  March.  The  place  was  pillaged  and  burned;  about  thirty  of 
the  inhabitants  were  killed,  and  fifty -four  made  prisoners.  On 
the  17th  of  May  the  fort  and  settlement  of  Casco  were  attacked 
and  destroyed.  These  depredations  alarmed  the  country,  and 
preparations  were  soon  made  to  make  an  attack  on  the  French 
settlements  in  Nova  Scotia.  A  fleet  of  eight  vessels,  earrying 
nearly  eight  hundred  men,  was  despatched  under  the  command 
of  Sir  William  Phips  to  attack  Port  Royal.  Upon  the  arrival 
there  of  the  expedition,  the  place,  being  in  no  condition  to 
stand  a  siege,  surrendered  with  little  or  no  resistance.  Sir 
William  Phips  now  took  possession  of  all  the  coast  from  Port 
Royal  to  the  English  settlements.  An  expedition  was  soon 
after  organized  to  subjugate  Canada,  and  on  the  5th  of  October 
it  arrived  at  Quebec.  On  learning  the  strength  of  the  place, 
the  invaders  abandoned  their  project  and  returned  to  Boston. 
Success  had  been  so  confidently  expected,  that  adequate  pro 
vision  had  not  been  made  for  the  payment  of  the  troops.  In 
this  emergency  the  government  of  Massachusetts  issued  bills 
of  credit  as  a  substitute  for  money,  and  these  were  the  first 
that  were  issued  in  the  American  colonies. 

A  large  number  of  French  Protestant  refugees  emigrated  to 
America  this  year,  and  settled  in  Carolina  and  Virginia. 

The  whale-fishery  at  Nantucket  was  commenced  on  a  large 
scale  at  this  time. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  America  was  issued  at 
Boston  on  the  25th  of  September,  and  was  called  Public 
Occurrences.  Before  the  second  number  appeared  the  legis 
lature  suppressed  its  publication. 

The  first  paper-mill  in  America  was  established  this  year,  by 
William  Bradford,  near  Philadelphia. 

1692  King  William  granted  to  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  the 
right  to  resume  their  old  charters,  and  he  gave  to  Massachusetts 
a  new  charter.     Under  this  the  colony  of  Plymouth  was  united 
with  that  of  Massachusetts.     The  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts 
extended  over  the  provinces  of  Maine,  Nova  Scotia,  and  other 
territory. 

Twenty  persons  were  put  to  death  this  year  in  Massachusetts, 
upon  their  conviction  of  the  charge  of  practising  witchcraft. 

A  party  of  French  and  Indians  surprised  and  nearly  de 
stroyed  the  whole  town  of  York,  in  Maine,  on  the  25th  of 
January,  massacring  about  seventy-five  of  the  inhabitants  and 
carrying  away  captive  about  the  same  number. 

A  charter  was  obtained  from  the  crown  for  a  college  to  be 
established  in  Virginia  under  the  name  of  "The  College  of 
Willliam  and  Mary  in  Virginia. " 

A  whipping-post',  pillory,  and  ducking-stool  were  established 
in  the  city  of  New  York. 

1693  William  Bradford  was  appointed  printer  to  the  government 
of  New  York,  and  set  up  the  first  press  in  that  province. 

1694  A  body  of  Indians  commanded  by  a  French  officer  attacked 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  19 

a  village  on  Oyster  river  in  New  Hampshire,  burned  twenty 
houses  and  massacred  and  took  captive  in  all  about  one  hun 
dred  of  the  inhabitants. 

1695  The  planting  of  rice  in  Carolina  was  commenced  this  year. 
A  brigantine  from  Madagascar  touching  at  Carolina  on  her  way 
to  Great  Britain,  anchored  off  Sullivan's  Island.     The  captain 
of  the  vessel  presented  a  bag  of  seed-rice  to  one  of  the  colonists, 
and  gave  him  directions  how  it  should  be  planted,  with  infor 
mation  of  its  growth  in  Eastern  countries,  and  of  its  incredible 
increase.  The  rice  was  distributed  among  several  of  the  inhabi 
tants,  who  made  the  experiment  of  planting  it  in  different  soils. 
The  success  fully  equalled  their  expectations,  and  from  this  small 
beginning  arose  the  staple  commodity  of  Carolina,  which  soon 
became  the  great  source  of  its  opulence. 

The  first  Episcopal  church  in  Pennsylvania  was  erected  this 
year  in  Philadelphia. 

1696  At  this  period,  New  England  had  about  one  hundred  thou 
sand  inhabitants  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  churches. 

The  city  of  New  York  contained  five  hundred  and  ninety-four 
houses  and  six  thousand  inhabitants.  The  Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  Church,  at  New  York,  received  a  charter  of  incorporation. 

The  Spaniards  built  a  church,  a  fort,  and  some  dwelling 
houses  at  Pensacola. 

A  cargo  of  negro  slaves  direct  from  Africa  arrived  in  Rhode 
Island.  Some  were  sold  there  and  the  remainder  in  Boston. 

1697  Trinity  Church  in  New  York  was  completed,  and  opened  for 
worship  on  the  6th  of  February. 

Paper  was  commenced  to  be  manufactured  at  German  town, 
Penna. 

The  streets  of  New  York  were  now  ordered  to  be  lighted  oy 
the  Common  Council.  The  lighting  was  to  be  done  in  a 
lantern  suspended  from  a  pole  stretched  out  from  the  win 
dow  of  every  seventh  house.  A  night-watch  was  also  insti 
tuted. 

1698  A  town  was  laid  out  in  Virginia,  and  called  Williamsburg  in 
honor  of  the  king.     The  seat  of  government  was  removed 
there  from  Jamestown. 

There  were  at  this  time  about  four  thousand  Indians  in 
Massachusetts. 

Louis  XIV.  of  France  projected  the  settlement  of  a  colony  in 
ijouisiana,  and  sent  over  two  vessels  to  visit  the  country  and 
gather  information  in  regard  to  it. 

1699  The  seat  of  government  for  Maryland  was  removed  from  St. 
Mary's  to  Annapolis. 

William  Kidd,  the  noted  pirate,  was  apprehended  in  Boston, 
committed  to  prison,  and  sent  to  England  for  trial,  where  he  was 
afterward  condemned  and  executed.  Kidd  was  formerly  known 
as  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  successful  shipmasters  that 
sailed  from  New  York.  In  May,  1691,  the  Common  Council 
of  New  York  awarded  him  £150  for  service  to  the  colony. 
Receiving  from  King  William  a  commission  as  captain  of  a 
galley  of  thirty  guns  for  the  suppression  of  piracy,  he  sailed 


20  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

from  England  in  1696,  but  turning  pirate  himself,  returned  in 
1698  with  a  large  booty  to  New  York 

1700  The  authorities  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts  passed  acts 
for  the  banishment  of  all  Popish  priests  and  Jesuits  from  those 
provinces. 

At  this  period  Boston  contained  about  7000  inhabitants  and 
about  1000  houses.  There  were  about  5500  whites  in  Carolina. 

The  first  public  library  instituted  in  America  was  this  year 
founded  in  New  York.  This  library  was  subsequently  merged 
with  the  Society  Library,  which  was  founded  in  1754. 

1701  Yale  College  was  founded  this  year.     It  was  chartered  by 
the  Assembly,  and  its  trustees  appointed  Saybrook  for  its  loca 
tion. 

The  number  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  American  colonies  at 
this  period  was  estimated  at  262,000. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  in  Michigan  was  founded  this 
year  by  the  French.  Sieur  de  la  Motte  Cadillac,  accompanied 
with  one  hundred  men,  departed  from  Quebec  on  the  8th  of 
March,  and  arrived  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Detroit 
on  the  24th  of  June.  He  at  once  erected  a  fort,  a  palisaded 
structure,  near  the  present  Jefferson  Avenue,  Shelby  and 
Woodbridge  streets. 

1702  King  William  died  on  the  8th  of  March,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Queen  Anne. 

A  rupture  having  taken  place  between  England  and  Spain, 
the  Governor  of  Carolina  organized  an  expedition  against  St. 
Augustine.  The  enterprise  was  unsuccessful,  and  entailed  a 
debt  of  £6000  on  the  colony ;  to  pay  this,  the  provincial  assembly 
of  Carolina  passed  an  act  for  the  issue  of  bills  of  credit.  This 
was  the  first  paper  money  issued  in  Carolina. 

East  and  West  Jersey  were  now  united  under  one  government 
by  Queen  Anne,  and  received  the  name  of  New  Jersey.  The 
first  Episcopal  society  in  that  province  was  organized. 

The  erection  of  the  first  Episcopal  church  at  Newport  was 
commenced. 

The  Episcopal  was  made  the  established  Church  in  Maryland, 
and  all  the  citizens  were  required  to  be  taxed  for  its  mainte 
nance. 

A  pestilent  fever  brought  from  the  West  Indies  to  New  York 
ravaged  that  city,  and  carried  off  one  tenth  of  the  population. 

1703  Virginia  contained  at  this  time  about  6000  inhabitants. 
Several  settlements  in  Maine  were  attacked  by  the  French  and 

Indians,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  inhabitants 
were  massacred  or  taken  away  captive. 

The  "  King's  Farm  "  in  the  city  of  New  York  was  granted 
to  Trinity  Church  by  Queen  Anne.  This  gift  laid  the  founda 
tion  of  the  vast  revenues  of  that  society. 

1704  The  Legislature  of  Maryland  passed  an  act  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  Popery  in  that  province. 

A  party  of  French  and  Indians  set  fire  to  the  town  of  Deer- 
field,  in  Massachusetts,  massacred  forty-seven  of  the  inhabit 
ants,  and  took  away  one  hundred  and  twelve  as  captives. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  21 

The  Church  of  England  was  made  the  established  church  in 
Carolina. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  America  (excepting  the 
single  issue  in  1690)  was  issued  on  the  24th  of  April,  at 
Boston,'  and  called  The  Boston  News  Letter.  It  was  published 
weekly,  and  was  printed  on  a  half  sheet  twelve  inches  by 
eight. 

The  first  Episcopal  church  built  in  New  Jersey  was  erected 
at  Burlington. 

1706  A  large  force  of  French  and  Spaniards  sailed  into  the  harbor 
of  Charleston,  in  Carolina,  to  assault  that  place,  but  they  were 
repulsed  by  the  colonists,  with  a  loss  of  three  hundred  men. 

1707  Two  regiments  embarked  from  Nantasket,  Mass.,  in  May,  to 
proceed  against  the  French  at  Port  Royal.     They  made  an  at 
tempt  to  bombard  the  fort  and  failed,  and  the  enterprise  was 
abandoned. 

The  first  Episcopal  society  in  Connecticut  was  formed  at 
Stratford. 

1708  A  body  of  French  and  Indians  attacked  the  town  of  Haver- 
hill,  in  New  Hampshire,  burned  several  houses,  and  plundered 
the  rest.     Nearly  forty  persons  were  massacred,  and  many  car 
ried  away  as  prisoners. 

1709  An  extensive  plan  was  determined  on  by  the  colonies  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  New  England,  to  subdue  the  French  in 
Canada,  Arcadia,  and  Newfoundland.    Five  regiments  of  regu 
lar  troops  were  to  be  sent  from  England  to  join  in  the  enterprise. 
Affairs  on  the  Continent  obliged  England  to  abandon  sending 
her  troops  to  America,  and  the  project  was  thereby  frustrated. 
To  defray  the  expenses  of  this  projected  expedition,  the  colonies 
of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Connecticut  issued  bills  of 
credit  for  the  first  time. 

The  first  printing-press  established  in  Connecticut  was  set  up 
this  year  in  New  London. 

A  slave-market  was  established  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

1710  An  expedition  set  sail  from  Boston,  on  the  18th  of  September, 
against  the  French  fort  at  Port  Royal.     On  the  3d  of  October 
the  place  capitulated,  and  its  name  changed  to  that  of  Annapo 
lis,  in  honor  of  Queen  Anne. 

A  post-office  establishment  for  the  colonies  in  America  was 
created  by  an  act  of  Parliament.  The  chief  office  was  made  at 
New  York,  and  sub-offices  at  such  other  places  as  the  Postmas 
ter-General  might  direct. 

1711  A  large  expedition,  consisting  of  an  armament  from  England 
and  a  large  body  of  colonial  troops,  sailed  from  Boston  on  the 
30th  of  July,  to  attack  the  French  in  Canada.     In  proceeding 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  River  the  fleet  struck  upon  the  rocks,  and 
eight  or  nine  of  the  transports  were  wrecked,  and  about  one 
thousand  lives  lost.     Upon  this  disaster  the  design  was  relin 
quished  and  the  fleet  turned  about,  and  the  English  vessels 
returned  directly  to  England.     Another  large  expedition,  in 
tended  to  act  in  concert  with  the  other,  left  Albany  on  the  28th 
of  August,  and  commenced  a  march  toward  Canada,  but  bear- 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ing  of  the  failure  of  the  Boston  expedition  the  whole  enterprise 
was  abandoned,  and  the  forces  returned  home. 

A  conflagration  in  Boston,  in  October,  destroyed  the  Town 
Hall  and  about  one  hundred  other  buildings. 

A  regular  weekly  mail  was  established  between  "Boston  and 
Maine,  and  a  bi-weekly  mail  between  Boston  and  New  York. 

1712  A  war  between  the  colonists  of  Carolina  and  the  Indians 
broke  out,  in  which  a  large  number  of  the  inhabitants  were 
massacred.   The  Indians  were  conquered,  and  nearly  all  of  them 
in  the  northern  part  of  that  colony  extirpated. 

At  this  period  the  settlers  in  Louisiana  numbered  twenty- 
eight  families. 

The  negroes  in  the  city  of  New  York  formed  a  plot  to  set 
fire  to  the  city,  and  in  its  execution  killed  several  of  the 
inhabitants.  Nineteen  of  the  negroes  were  convicted  and  ex 
ecuted. 

Albany  contained  at  this  time  about  four  thousand  inhabi 
tants. 

1713  At  this  period  there  were  forty-five  towns  in  Connecticut. 
The  settlement  of  Worcester,  in  Massachusetts,  was   com 
menced. 

1715  About  four  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  of  South  Carolina 
were  killed  this  year  in  a  war  with  the  Indians  in  the  central 
and  southern  parts  of  the  province. 

The  manufacture  of  pig  and  bar  iron  was  commenced  in 
Virginia. 

1717  The  college  heretofore  instituted  at  Say  brook  was  removed 
this  year  to  New  Haven,  and  in  honor  of  Governor  Yale,  its 
great  benefactor,  was  named  Yale  College. 

New  Orleans  was  founded  by  the  French. 

1718  Emigrants  to  the  number  of  eight  hundred  arrived  in  Louisi 
ana,  and  most  of  them  settled  at  New  Orleans  and  Natchez. 

1719  The  first  newspaper  published  in  America,  outside  of  Boston, 
was  issued  in  Philadelphia,  and  called  The  American  Weekly 
Mercury. 

The  first  Presbyterian  church  built  in  New  York  was  erected 
this  year  on  Wall  Street. 
Tea  began  to  be  used  in  New  England  for  the  first  time. 

1720  About  this  time  clocks  were  first  introduced  into  America. 
Heretofore  time  was  marked  by  the  hour-glass. 

The  manufacture  of  iron  was  commenced  in  Pennsylvania, 
about  this  time,  by  a  settler  named  Nutt,  who  erected  a  forge  in 
Coventry. 

1721  The  small-pox  devastated  Boston  and   vicinity,  attacking 
nearly  six  thousand  people.     Inoculation  for  that  disease  was 
now  first  introduced  into  New  England,  and  met  with  violent 
opposition. 

1722  Massachusetts   contained   at  this  period  about  ninety-four 
thousand  inhabitants. 

The  first  manufacture  of  hemp-duck  in  America  was  com 
menced  about  this  time,  in  Rhode  Island. 

1723  The  Province  of  Pennsylvania  for  the  first  time  issued  paper 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  23 

money.    In  March  it  emitted  £15,000,  and  £30,000  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year. 

The  Episcopal  society  in  Stratford,  Conn.,  completed  a 
church  this  year.  This  was  the  first  Episcopal  church  erected 
in  Connecticut. 

1725  The  first  newspaper  published  in  the  province  of  New  York 
was  issued  on  the  16th  of  October  by  William  Bradford,  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  called  the  New  York  Gazette. 

1726  The  first  printing-press  in  Maryland  was  set  up  at  Annapolis. 
The  printing  for  that  province  was  done  before  this  in  Phila 
delphia.     A  prin ting- press  was  also  set  up  in  Virginia  about  this 
time. 

1727  The  first  newspaper  printed  in  Maryland  was  published  at 
Annapolis,  and  called  the  Maryland  Gazette. 

Fredericksburg,  in  Virginia,  was  founded  by  an  act  of  the 
assembly. 

1729  The  province  of  Carolina  was  divided  this  year,  and  two  dis 
tinct  governments  instituted.     North  Carolina  and  South  Caro 
lina  were  the  names  given  the  respective  divisions  of  the  terri 
tory. 

The  Indians  attacked  the  French  settlement  of  Natchez,  and 
killed  about  two  hundred  of  the  inhabitants.  Of  all  the  peo 
ple  residing  there,  not  more  than  twenty  whites  and  six  negroes 
escaped.  One  hundred  and  fifty  children,  eighty  women,  and 
nearly  as  many  negroes  were  carried  awav  as  prisoners. 

Baltimore  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  Maryland, 
and  laid  out  into  town-lots. 

1730  Rhode  Island  contained  at  this  time  about  18,000  inhabitants, 
3800  of  whom  resided  in  Newport  and  3700  in  Providence. 

At  this  period  there  were  28,000  negroes  in  South  Carolina. 

The  Governor  of  Louisiana  dispatched  an  expedition  against 
the  Indians,  in  revenge  for  their  massacre  of  the  French  at 
Natchez,  which  succeeded  in  capturing  nearly  the  whole  tribe. 
The  prisoners  were  transported  as  slaves  to  St.  Domingo. 

The  first  printing-press  established  in  either  of  the  colonies  of 
Carolina  was  set  up  at  Charleston. 

The  first  paper-mill  established  in  New  England  was  erected 
at  Milton,  in  Massachusetts;  the  proprietor  receiving  as  encour 
agement  from  the  legislature  certain  privileges  for  ten  years. 

A  line  of  stages  was  established  between  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  to  make  bi-monthly  trips. 

The  small  pox  again  ravaged  Boston,  and  carried  off  about 
five  hundred  of  the  inhabitants. 

1731  At  this  period  Massachusetts  contained  about  120,000  inhab 
itants;  Philadelphia,  12,000  and  2400  houses;  and  Charleston, 
in  South  Carolina,  between  500  and  600  houses. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  South  Carolina  was  issued 
on  the  8th  of  January  at  Charleston,  and  called  the  South 
Carolina  Gazette. 

The  first  fire-engines  used  in  New  York  arrived  from  Eng 
land.  A  fire  department  for  the  city  was  at  once  instituted. 

1732  The  yellow-fever  raged  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  four  or  five 


Y 


24  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

months,  carrying  off  large  numbers  of  the  population.  Busi 
ness  was  almost  entirely  suspended. 

The  province  of  New  York  contained  a  population  of  about 
65,000;  Pennsylvania,  about  30,000;  and  Virginia,  about  60,000. 

The  town  of  Salem,  in  Massachusetts,  contained  520  houses, 
and  about  five  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  first  Episcopal  church  erected  in  New  Hampshire  was 
completed  at  Portsmouth. 

The  first  printing-press  set  up  in  Rhode  Island  was  estab 
lished  at  Newport;  and  the  first  newspaper  published  in  that 
colony  was  issued  from  that  press,  this  year,  and  called  the 
Ehode  Island  Gazette. 

A  corporation  was  formed  in  England,  and  received  a  char 
ter  from  King  George  II. ,  for  the  colonization  of  the  large  un 
occupied  tract  of  country  lying  between  South  Carolina  and 
Florida,  to  which,  in  honor  of  the  king,  was  given  the  name  of 
Georgia.  That  province  completed  the  number  of  English 
colonies  in  America  that  afterward  constituted  the  original 
thirteen  United  States. 

1733  James  Oglethorpe,  one  of  the  trustees  named  in  the  charter 
for  Georgia,  arrived  in  that  province  in  February  with  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  colonists,  and  commenced  building  a  fort 
and  laying  out  a  town,  which  he  called  Savannah,  from  the 
Indian  name  of  the  river  which  ran  by  it.     He  called  a  con 
vention  of  the  Indians  inhabiting  the  province,  at  which  fifty 
chieftains  attended,  and  concluded  with  them  a  treaty  of  amity 
and  peace. 

The  first  lodge  of  Free  Masons  in  America  was  opened  at 
Boston  on  the  30th  of  July. 

Maryland  now  contained  a  population  of  36,000. 

The  first  Catholic  church  erected  in  the  colonies  north  of 
Maryland,  and  the  only  one  previous  to  the  Revolution,  was  built 
this  year  in  Philadelphia. 

1734  The  second  Masonic  lodge  in  America  was  established  in 
Philadelphia. 

1735  The  first  newspaper  in  America  printed  in  a  foreign  tongue 
was  issued  at  Germantown,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  German 
language. 

Boston  at  this  time  had  about  16,000  inhabitants. 

1736  About  four  hundred  emigrants,  mostly  Scotch  and  Germans, 
arrived  in  Georgia  this  year. 

Oglethorpe  built  a  fort  on  the  Savannah  River  at  a  place 
called  Augusta  ;  a  fort  and  town  called  Frederica,  on  an  island 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  ;  and  another  fort,  called  Cumber 
land,  on  an  island  nearer  the  sea.  The  Parliament  of  Eng 
land  voted  £10,000  to  defray  the  expenses  of  these  public  works. 

A  large  body  of  French  and  friendly  Indians  were  defeated 
in  a  battle  with  the  Chickasaws  in  Louisiana. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Virginia  was  issued  on  the 
6th  of  August,  at  Williamsburg,  and  called  The  Virginia 


A  regular  line  of  stages  was  established  between  Boston  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  25 

Newport,  and  exclusive  privileges  were  granted  it  for  a  num 
ber  of  years  by  the  Legislature  of  Rhode  Island. 
173S  Through  Spanish  influence  an  insurrection  of  the  negroes  in 
South  Carolina  broke  out,  and  spread  desolation  over  a  large 
district.  The  negroes  were  subjugated  and  the  leaders  put  to 
death.  There  were  at  this  time  about  forty  thousand  negroes 
in  the  province. 

A  college  was  founded  at  Princeton  in  New  Jersey,  and  called 
Nassau  Hall. 

At  this  period  New  Jersey  contained  a  population  of  43,388 
whites  and  3981  slaves. 

Brooklyn,  L.  I.,  at  this  time  had  721  inhabitants,  of  which 
number  184  were  blacks. 

739  The  celebrated  Methodist  preacher  George  Whitefield  ar 
rived  at  Philadelphia  from  England  in  September,  and  preached 
to  multitudes  in  various  parts  of  the  colonies  in  this  and  the 
following  year. 

The  first  church  in  Baltimore  was  erected,  and  occupied  by 
the  Episcopalians. 

1740  Oglethorpe,  with  a  force  of  two  thousand  men,  made  an  un 
successful  attack  on  St.  Augustine. 

A  conflagration  broke  out  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  destroyed  three  hundred  of  the  best  buildings  in  the  town, 
besides  other  property  of  great  value.  The  English  Parliament 
voted  £20,000  in  aid  of  the  sufferers. 

The  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  an  act  to  prohibit 
the  teaching  of  negroes  to  write. 

1741  A  conspiracy  of  negroes  and  others  was  f ormed  in  New  York 
to  burn  the  city.     Twenty-two  of  the  incendiaries  were  exe 
cuted,  thirty  burned  to  death,  and  great  numbers  transported. 

The  first  literary  journal  published  in  the  country  was  issued 
by  Benjamin  Franklin  at  Philadelphia,  and  called  The  Gen 
eral  Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle. 

1742  Faneuil  Hall,  in  Boston,  was  erected  by  Peter  Faneuil,  and 
presented  to  the  town. 

The  first  public  library  in  Pennsylvania  was  instituted, 
through  the  exertions  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Richmond,  in  Virginia,  was  established  by  an  act  of  the  leg 
islature. 

1743  A  German  edition  of  the  Bible  was  published  at  German- 
town,  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  cultivation  of  indigo  was  introduced  into  South  Carolina 
at  this  time.  A  year  or  more  before  this  date,  Mr.  Lucas, 
Governor  of  Antigua,  sent  some  indigo  seed  to  his  daughter  in 
South  Carolina,  to  plant  for  her  amusement.  Learning  its 
success,  he  sent  over  from  Montserrat  a  man  accustomed  to 
making  indigo,  who  built  vats  on  Wappoe  Creek,  and  there 
made  the  first  indigo  that  was  produced  in  America.  Very  soon 
afterward  the  planting  of  indigo  in  South  Carolina  became 
common,  and  in  a  year  or  two  it  became  an  article  of  export. 
1745  An  expedition  of  four  thousand  men  sailed  from  Massachu 
setts  against  the  French  town  and  fort  at  Louisburg,  on  the 


26  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

island  of  Cape  Breton.     The  place  was  captured,  and  prizes 
valued  at  upwards  of  £600,000  taken. 
The  census  of  New  Jersey  showed  a  population  of  61,403. 

1746  The  first  iron  rolling  and  slitting  mill  in  Pennsylvania  was 
established  in  Thornbury  Township. 

1747  The  first  public  library  in  Rhode  Island  was  established  at 
Newport. 

1749  Several  persons  in  Virginia  and  England  associated  them 
selves  together  into  a  company  called  the  Ohio  Company,  anii 
obtained  from  the  king  a  grant  of  600,000  acres  of  lands  about 
the  Ohio  River,  in  territory  claimed  by  the  French.     This 
transaction  was  one  of  the  causes  which  led  to  the  ensuing  war 
between  France  and  England. 

There  were  at  this  "period  2076  houses  in  Philadelphia. 
Rhode  Island  contained  about  31,500  inhabitants,  of  whom 
about  3000  were  negroes. 

1750  The  English  Parliament,  to  protect  the  iron  industry  in  Eng 
land,  passed  an  act  prohibiting  the  erection  of  any  iron  rolling 
or  slitting  mill,  or  any  forge,  in  the  American  colonies. 

An  amateur  theatrical  performance  was  played  in  Boston, 
which  led  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  to  pass  an  act  for 
bidding  theatrical  entertainments  in  the  province. 

Pennsylvania  received  this  year  immigrations  of  4317  Ger 
mans  and  1000  English  and  Irish. 

The  population  of  New  England  was  now  about  354,000, 
and  of  South  Carolina,  64,000. 

An  Academy  was  instituted  in  Philadelphia  from  which  the 
University  of  Pennyslvania  afterward  originated. 

The  first  theatre  established  in  New  York  was  opened  on 
Nassau  Street,  on  the  5th  of  March,  with  the  play  of  Shake- 
peare's  tragedy  of  King  Richard  III.  Regular  performances 
were  continued  for  more  than  fifteen  months. 

1751  Philadelphia  at  this  time  contained  a  population  of  about 
17,000  people,  of  whom  6000  were  negroes. 

The  first  printing-press  in  New  Jersey  was  set  up  at  Wood- 
bridge. 

1752  Heretofore  in  all  the  British  dominions  the  new  year  com 
menced  on  the  25th  of  March.     By  an  act  of  parliament  it  was 
made  to  date  hereafter  on  the  first  day  of  January. 

The  small-pox  visited  Boston  this  year,  of  which  disease 
about  550  died.  The  town  contained  at  this  time  17,574  inhab 
itants. 

Benjamin  Franklin  made  his  grand  electrical  discoveries  this 
year. 

The  first  theatre  established  in  Virginia  was  opened  at  Wil- 
liamsburg  on  the  5th  of  September.  The  performers  came 
from  London,  and  the  first  play  acted  was  "  The  Merchant  of 
Venice." 

1754  The  encroachments  of  the  French  in  the  territory  west  of  the 
Alleghanies  impelled  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  to  send  an  ex 
pedition  against  the  invaders.  The  colonial  troops  were 
attacked  by  an  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy,  and  surren- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  27 

dered.  By  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  the  English  were  re 
leased  upon  the  condition  that  they  would  return  to  the  inhab 
ited  parts  of  Virginia.  George  Washington  was  one  of  the 
officers  of  the  Virginia  troops  engaged  in  this  enterprise. 

The  colonists,  anticipating  a  war  between  France  and  Eng 
land,  held  a  convention  at  Albany  to  take  measures  of  defence. 
A  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  Indians  composing  the  Six 
Nations,  and  a  plan  was  proposed  to  form  a  union  of  all  the 
colonies  under  one  central  government.  All  the  delegates,  ex 
cept  those  from  Connecticut,  voted  for  that  measure,  but  it 
was  rejected  by  the  different  colonial  legislatures  to  whom  the 
plan  was  referred  for  ratification. 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  granted  a  charter  for  the  incor 
poration  of  a  college  to  be  called  "The  Governors  of  the  Col 
lege  of  the  Province  of  New  York,  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
in  America."  The  president  of  the  college  was  ever  to  be  of 
the  Episcopalian  denomination. 

1755  The  British  Government  sent  a  body  of  troops  to  America, 
under  the  command  of  General  Braddock,  to  aid  the  colonists 
in  driving  out  the  French  from  territory  claimed  by  the 
English.  Upon  Braddock's  arrival  a  convention  of  the  colo 
nial  governors  assembled,  and  determined  that  three  expeditions 
against  the  French  should  be  organized.  The  first  under  Gen 
eral  Braddock,  with  his  British  troops,  was  to  attack  the  French 
fort  called  Fort  du  Quesne  at  the  junction  of  the  Alleghany 
and  Monongahela  rivers;  the  second,  under  Governor  Shirley 
with  American  regulars  and  friendly  Indians,  to  attack  the 
French  fort  at  Niagara;  the  third,  composed  of  militia  from 
the  northern  colonies,  to  attack  Crown  Point  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  While  preparations  for  these  enterprises  were  in  prog 
ress  a  force  of  three  thousand  men  sailed  from  Boston  to  at 
tack  the  French  forts  in  Nova  Scotia.  This  expedition  was 
successful,  and  for  the  purpose  of  extirpating  the  French  from 
that  territory  seven  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  were  carried 
away  and  dispersed  among  tha  American  colonies.  On  the 
10th  of  June  General  Braddock  with  2200  men  started  on  his 
.expedition  into  the  wilderness.  Pushing  forward  with  1200 
troops  in  advance,  he  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  French  and 
Indians,  who  routed  his  army  with  great  slaughter.  Braddock 
and  sixty- four  other  officers  and  one  half  of  the  privates  were 
killed  or  wounded.  Braddock  soon  after  died  from  his 
wounds.  George  Washington  was  aide-de-camp  to  the  com- 
mander-in-chief ,  and  won  distinction  by  his  valor. 

The  second  expedition  under  Governor  Shirley  advanced  as 
far  as  Oswego,  but  the  season  getting  late,  it  was  postponed 
until  the  next  year. 

The  third  expedition  under  General  Johnson  met  and  de 
feated  a  large  French  and  Indian  force  at  Lake  George.  In  the 
engagement  Baron  Dieskau,  the  French  commander,  was  mor 
tally  wounded.  The  English  established  a  fort  called  Fort 
Edward,  and  another  at  the  south  end  of  Lake  George  called 


28  HISTORY    OF   THE    UXITED    STATES. 

Fort  William  Henry.  The  French  took  possession  of  Ticon 
deroga  and  fortified  it. 

The  Governor  of  South  Carolina  made  a  treaty  with  the 
Cherokees,  by  which  they  ceded  a  large  tract  of  territory  to  the 
King  of  Great  Britain,  and  agreed  to  move  further  inland  away 
from  the  English  settlements. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Connecticut  was  issued  at 
New  Haven,  and  called  the  Connecticut  Gazette. 

The  first  newspaper  issued  in  North  Carolina  was  published 
in  December  at  Newburn,  and  called  the  North  Carolina, 
Gazette. 

At  this  period  New  England  contained  a  population  of  about 
four  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand. 

1756  The  French  under  General  Montcalm  captured  the  English 
forts  at  and  near  Oswego,  with  1400  men  as  prisoners. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  New  Hampshire  was  issued 
on  the  7th  of  October  at  Portsmouth,  and  called  The  New 
Hampshire  Gazette. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  in  the  territory  since  formed 
into  the  State  of  Tennesee  was  made  this  year  on  the  Tenne- 
see  River,  about  thirty  miles  from  the  site  of  Knoxville. 

1757  f  A  French  army  of  9000  men  laid  siege  to  Fort  William  Henry, 
in  New  York,  and  compelled  its  surrender,  with  between  2006 
and  8000  of  the  garrison  as  prisoners. 

At  this  time  the  French  in  Louisiana  numbered  about  ten 
thousand. 

The  city  of  New  York  contained  about  12,000  inhabitants, 
and  Philadelphia  about  13,000. 

1758  The  English  formed  an  expedition  against  the  French  fortress 
of  Louisburg,  on  the  island  of  Cape  Breton.     The  place  capitu 
lated,  and  5600  men  were  taken  prisoners  and  carried  away  ta 
England. 

The  English  under  General  Abercrombie,  in  an  expedition 
against  the  French  at  Ticonderoga,  were  defeated,  with  a  loss 
of  nearly  two  thousand  men  killed  and  wounded. 

The  English  under  Colonel  Bradstreet  captured  the  French 
fort  Frontenac,  with  a  large  amount  of  provisions  and  military 
stores. 

An  English  army  under  General  Forbes  attacked  the  French 
fort  Du  Quesne  and  captured  it.  He  changed  its  name  to  Fort 
Pitt. 

Virginia  exported  this  year  70,000  hogsheads  of  tobacco. 

1759  The  English  under  General  Amhcrst  captured  the  French 
forts  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point;  and  under   General 
Johnson,  the  French  fort  at  Niagara. 

t  An  English  army  of  8000  men  under  General  Wolfe  laid 
siege  to  Quebec,  captured  the  place,  killed  one  thousand  of  the 
enemy,  and  took  as  many  prisoners.  General  Wolfe  was  mort 
ally  wounded,  and  about  600  of  his  men  were  killed  or  wounded. 

1760  A  large  army  under  the  command  of  General  Amherst,  com 
bined  with  the  army  from  Quebec,  compelled  the  capitulation 
of  all  Canada  to  the  King  of  England. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  29 

Georgia  issued  £7410  in  paper  money  this  year. 

A  conflagration  destroyed  about  one  tenth  part  of  the  town 
of  Boston  on  the  20th  of  March. 

A  war  with  the  Cherokees  broke  out  in  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  continued  until  the  next  year,  when  the  Indians  were  com 
pletely  subjugated. 

1761  At  this  time  there  were  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  slaves  in 
Newport,  R.  I. 

The  first  newspaper  issued  in  Delaware  was  published  at 
Wilmington,  and  titled  TJie  Wilmington  Gazette. 

In  Massachusetts  disputes  arose  between  the  people  and  the 
the  royal  authorities  concerning  a  proposed  arbitrary  method 
of  collecting  customs,  which  increased  the  bitter  feelings  exist 
ing  against  the  government. 

1762  The  first  newspaper  published  in  Providence  was  issued  this 
year,  under  the  name  of  The  Providence  Gazette. 

The  first  printing-press  in  Georgia  was  set  up  in  Savannah. 

1763  A  treaty  of  peace  between  France,  Spain,  and  England  was 
signed  at  Paris  on  the  10th  of  February.     By  this  treaty,  Ca 
nada,  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  were  to  be 
long  to  Great  Britain ;   France  relinquished  her  claims  to  all 
territory  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  was  confirmed  in  her  right 
to  the  country  west  of  that  river  ;  Spain  ceded  to  Great  Britain 
Florida  and  all  its  title  to  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  Georgia  Gazette  issued  its  first  number  at  Savannah  on 
the  17th  of  April.  This  was  the  first  and  only  newspaper  pub 
lished  in  Georgia  before  the  Revolution. 

A  ferry  was  now  established  between  New  York  and  Paulus 
Hook,  since  called  Jersey  City. 

1764  The  English  House  of  Commons  voted  that  the  government 
had  the  right  to  tax  the  American  colonists  without  their  being 
represented  in  parliament;  and  passed  an  act  imposing  certain 
duties  in  America,  with  severe  penalties  attached  for  non-pay 
ment.     The  sentiment  expressed  in  this  act  caused  great  dis 
satisfaction  in  America,  and  protests  against  it  were  forwarded 
to  England. 

The  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  offered  large  bounties  in 
land  as  an  encouragement  to  settlers;  and,  in  consequence, 
large  numbers  of  Germans,  French  Protestants,  and  poor  peo 
ple  from  England  and  Scotland  emigrated  to  that  province. 

By  a  treaty  concluded  between  Spain  and  France,  all  of 
Louisiana  was  ceded  to  Spain. 

St.  Louis  was  laid  out  hi  town-lots,  and  its  settlement  com 
menced. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Hartford,  and  the  fourth  in 
Connecticut,  was  issued  on  the  29th  of  October,  and  called  the 
Connecticut  Courant. 

1765  In  the  beginning  of  this  year  the  English  Parliament  passed 
an  act  for  raising  a  revenue,  by  a  general  stamp-duty,  through 
out  all  the  American  colonies.     The  Legislature  of  Virginia 
was  in  session  when  intelligence  of  the  passage  of  that  act  was 
received,  and  it  passed  several  spirited  resolutions,  asserting 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

colonial  rights,  and  denying  the  right  of  taxation  in  America 
by  parliament.  The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  passed  simi 
lar  resolutions,  and  proposed  that  a  general  congress  of  all  the 
colonies  should  be  convened.  In  pursuance  of  that  resolution 
delegates  from  nearly  all  the  colonies  assembled  at  the  city  of 
New  York  on  the  7th  of  October.  This  congress  declared 
that  the  colonies  had  the  exclusive  power  of  taxation  in  their 
territories,  and  resolved  to  petition  the  king,  and  send  a  me 
morial  on  the  subject  to  each  of  the  houses  of  parliament,  and 
recommended  the  several  colonies  to  appoint  special  agents  to 
present  their  grievances  to  the  king.  About  the  1st  of  No 
vember,  on  which  day  the  Stamp  Act  was  to  go  into  operation, 
tumults  occurred  in  Boston,  and  great  excitement  prevailed 
throughout  the  colonies,  and,  in  some,  associations  were  formed, 
styled  "  Sons  of  Liberty,"  for  mutual  support  and  resistance. 

Pittsburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  was  laid  out,  and  its  settlement 
commenced. 

1766  The  decided  opposition  of  the  American  colonies  to  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  the  eloquent  appeals  of  their  advocates  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  induced  parliament  to  repeal  the  obnox 
ious  measure.    News  of  the  repeal  excited  great  satisfaction  in 
America,  where  it  was  celebrated  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  fire 
works,  and  festivals. 

Louisiana  contained  at  this  time  a  population  of  five  thousand 
five  hundred  whites  and  five  thousand  nine  hundred  negroes. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  in  the  United  States  had  its 
origin  in  a  society  founded  by  Philip  Embury,  this  year,  in  his 
own  house  at  New  York. 

1767  The  project  of  taxing  the  colonies  was  resumed  by  the  English 
Government.     Parliament  passed  an  act,  imposing  a  duty  to  be 
paid  by  the  colonists  on  paper,  glass,  painters'  colors,  and  teas 
imported  into  the  colonies.    This  act  met  similar  opposition  hi 
America  to  that  of  the  Stamp  Act.     It  called  forth  resolves, 
petitions,  addresses,  and  remonstrances  from  the  inhabitants. 

The  Connecticut  Journal  and  New  Haven  Post  Boy  appeared 
at  New  Haven  in  October.  The  last  part  of  the  name  was 
dropped  in  1775. 

1768  In  August  the  Boston  merchants  and  traders  generally  sub 
scribed  a  paper,  in  which  they  engaged  not  to  import  nor  to 
purchase   any  kind  of  goods  or  merchandise  imported  from 
Great  Britain  during  the  whole  of  the  next  year,  excepting  a 
few  enumerated  articles.     The  merchants  of  Salem,  Connecti 
cut,  and  New  York  entered  into  similar  agreements. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September  a  large  number  of  British 
soldiers  arrived  at  Boston  to  protect  the  revenue  officers  in  the 
collection  of  duties,  which  gave  the  place  every  appearance  of 
a  garrisoned  town. 

The  first  paper-mill  established  in  Connecticut  was  erected  at 
Norwich. 

Dartmouth  College,  in  New  Hampshire,  was  incorporated. 

Philadelphia  contained  at  this  time  4474  houses. 

The  settlement  of  Bangor,  in  Maine,  was  commenced. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  31 

The  second  theatre  in  New  York  was  opened,  on  Beekman 
Street,  near  Nassau  Street.  The  street  since  named  in  honor  of 
Robert  Fulton  was  at  this  time  known  as  Beekman  Street. 

1770  On  the  5th  of  March,  some  British  soldiers,  being  insulted  by 
the  populace  in  the  streets  of  Boston,  fired  into  the  crowd,  killed 
three  persons,  and  dangerously  wounded  five  others,  causing 
great  commotion  and  indignation  in  the  community. 

The  Massachusetts  Spy  appeared  in  Boston  in  July.  It  was 
removed  temporarily  to  Worcester  in  1775. 

The  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  founded  in  1768, 
was  incorporated  by  the  legislature. 

The  first  manufacture  of  tinware  in  this  country  was  com 
menced  about  this  time  in  Berlin,  Connecticut. 

1771  The  first  newspaper    published  in  Albany  was  issued  in 
November,  under  the  title  of  The  Albany  Gazette. 

Some  of  the  inhabitants  of  North  Carolina,  complaining  of 
oppressions  practised  in  the  law  and  by  the  judicial  court,  rose 
in  arms,  to  the  number  of  about  fifteen  hundred,  under  the 
name  of  regulators,  for  the  purpose  of  shutting  up  the  courts 
of  justice,  opposing  the  officers  of  government  and  all  lawyers, 
and  of  prostrating  government  itself.  The  governor  marched 
against  them  with  about  one  thousand  militia,  and  in  a  battle  on 
the  16th  of  May  totally  defeated  them.  Three  hundred  of  the 
regulators  were  killed  on  the  field,  twelve  more  of  the  in 
surgents  were  tried  and  condemned  for  high  treason,  and  six 
of  them  were  executed. 

1772  Umbrellas  were  now  first  introduced  into  this  country.  They 
were  imported  from  India  and  landed  at  Baltimore,  and  at  first 
were  scouted  as  an  effeminacy. 

The  colonists  of  Rhode  Island  made  a  daring  resistance  of 
encroachments.  The  Gaspee,  an  armed  schooner  which  had  been 
stationed  at  Providence,  excited  much  resentment  by  firing 
at  the  packets  to  oblige  their  masters  to  haul  down  their  colors 
as  a  salute,  and  upon  their  refusal  chasing  the  vessels  into  the 
docks.  A  packet  coming  up  to  Providence  with  passengers, 
refusing  to  pay  that  tribute  of  respect,  was  fired  at  by  the 
Gaspee,  and  chased.  The  packet  led  the  Gaspee  into  low-water, 
where  that  vessel  was  grounded,  and  the  packet  proceeded  on 
her  way  to  Providence,  where  a  plan  was  laid  to  destroy  the 
obnoxious  vessel.  Several  whale-boats  were  manned  with 
armed  men  in  the  night,  and  proceeded  to  the  vessel.  The 
commander  and  his  crew,  with  their  personal  effects,  were  put' 
ashore,  and  the  Gaspee  with  all  her  stores  was  burned.  A  large 
reward  was  offered  by  the  government  for  the  detection  of  the 
perpetrators  of  the  deed,  but  they  could  not  be  discovered. 

1773  The  British  Government,  being  unable  to  obtain  any  revenue 
from  duties  on  tea  shipped  to  America,  because  it  could  not  be 
sold,  resolved  to  accomplish  by  policy  what  was  found  to  be 
impracticable  from  restraint.     It  effected  an  arrangement  with 
the  East  India  Company,  whose  warehouses  were  overstocked 
with  that  article  for  want  of  a  market,  by  which  shipments  of 
tea  could  be  sold  to  the  colonists  at  prices  with  the  duties  less 


32  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

than  had  been  charged  before  duties  were  imposed.  The 
colonists,  however,  continued  in  their  determination-  to  firmly 
adhere  to  their  principles,  and  not  be  taxed  in  any  manner 
whatsoever  without  their  own  consent.  It  was  the  prevailing 
sentiment  throughout  the  country,  that  this  new  plan  of  the 
government  was  a  direct  attack  on  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
which  was  the  duty  of  all  to  oppose.  The  East  India  Com 
pany,  confident  of  finding  a  market  for  their  tea,  reduced  as  it 
now  was  in  price,  freighted  several  ships  to  America  with  that 
commodity,  and  appointed  agents  for  the  disposal  of  it.  Cargoes 
were  sent  to  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  Charles 
ton,  S.  C.  The*  inhabitants  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
sent  them  back  to  London.  The  tea  at  Charleston  was  stored 
in  cellars,  where  it  could  not  be  used,  and  where  it  finally 
perished.  In  Boston,  a  number  of  armed  men  disguised  as 
Indians  boarded  the  ships  and  threw  their  whole  cargoes  into 
the  sea. 

The  settlement  of  the  territory  afterward  comprised  within 
the  State  of  Kentucky,  was  commenced,  by  the  emigration  there 
of  Daniel  Boone  accompanied  with  several  families. 

The  English  settlements  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  in  the  Natchez  country,  were  increased  by  emigrations  in 
June  and  July  of  about  four  hundred  families. 

About  three  hundred  families  of  Germans  removed  from 
Maine,  and  settled  in  the  south-western  part  of  South  Carolina. 
Within  one  year  six  thousand  negro  slaves  were  imported 
into  South  Carolina. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Baltimore  was  issued  on 
the  20th  of  August,  under  the  title  of  The  Maryland  Journal 
and  Baltimore  Advertiser. 

The  first  steam  engine  constructed  in  America  was  built  at 
Philadelphia. 

1774  Intelligence  of  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at  Boston  was  officially 
declared  to  parliament  by  the  king,  and  he  represented  in  his 
communication  that  the  conduct  of  the  colonists  was  not  merely 
an  obstruction  to  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain,  but  as  subver 
sive  of  the  British  constitution.  In  accordance  with  that  senti 
ment,  parliament  passed  an  act  by  which  the  port  of  Boston  was 
declared  to  be  legally  closed,  and  another  act  by  which  the 
charter  of  Massachusetts  was  altered  so  as  to  essentially  abridge 
the  liberties  of  the  people.  In  the  apprehension  that  in  the  exe 
cution  of  these  acts  riots  would  take  place,  and  that  trials  for 
murders  committed  in  suppressing  them  would  be  partially  de 
cided  by  the  colonial  courts,  another  act  was  passed  declar 
ing  that  if  any  person  were  indicted  for  any  capital  offence 
committed  in  aiding  magistracy  in  Massachusetts,  the  governor 
might  "send  the  person  so  indicted  to  Nova  Scotia  or  to  Great 
Britain  for  trial.  General  Gage  was  appointed  governor  of 
Massachusetts  as  the  most  proper  person  to  see  to  the  execution 
of  the  laws  respecting  that  colony  and  its  capital,  and  he  arrived 
at  Boston  on  the  13th  of  May.  On  the  1st  of  June,  the  dav 
designated  when  the  Port  Bill  should  go  into  operation,  busi- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  33 

ness  was  closed  in  that  city,  and  the  harbor  shut  up  against  all 
vessels.  In  sympathy  with  the  inhabitants  of  that  city,  the  day 
was  observed  in  many  of  the  colonies  as  a  day  of  fasting  and 
mourning,  and  subscriptions  were  set  on  foot  for  such  poor  in 
habitants  as  should  be  deprived  of  the  means  of  subsistence  by 
the  operation  of  the  act. 

The  necessity  of  a  General  Congress  was  now  perceived 
throughout  the  colonies,  and  that  measure  was  adopted  by  every 
colony  from  New  Hampshire  to  South  Carolina.  On  the  4th 
of  September  delegates  from  eleven  colonies  appeared  at  Phila 
delphia,  and  the  next  day,  having  formed  themselves  into  a 
congress,  chose  Peyton  Randolph  president,  and  Charles 
Thompson  secretary.  A  declaration  of  rights  was  soon  agreed 
on,  the  several  acts  infringing  and  violating  those  rights  recited, 
end  the  repeal  of  them  resolved  to  be  essentially  necessary  to 
the  restoration  of  harmony  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colo 
nies.  A  non-importation,  non-consumption,  and  non-exportation 
agreement  was  adopted.  On  the  14th  of  September  deputies 
from  North  Carolina  arrived  and  joined  the  congress.  In  Octo 
ber  an  address  was  prepared  to  the  king  and  the  people  of 
Great  Britain,  and  forwarded  to  the  colonial  agents  established 
there. 

In  the  mean  time  the  people  of  Boston  were  further  incensed 
by  the  arrival  there  of  numerous  British  troops  and  proceedings 
instituted  by  General  Gage. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  news  arrived  of  a  proclamation 
of  the  king  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  military  stores  to 
America.  The  people  of  Rhode  Island  immediately  secured 
to  themselves  from  the  public  battery  about  forty  cannon,  and 
the  legislature  passed  resolutions  for  obtaining  arms  and  mili 
tary  stores  and  for  arming  the  inhabitants.  In  New  Hampshire 
the  colonists  took  forcible  possession  of  the  fort  at  the  entrance 
of  Portsmouth  harbor,  and  carried  away  upwards  of  one  hun 
dred  barrels  of  powder. 

Parliament  voted  to  dismiss  Benjamin  Franklin  from  his 
office  of  deputy  postmaster-general  in  America,  because  of  his 
sympathy  with  the  measures  of  the  colonists. 

The  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians  ceded  to  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  several  millions  of  acres  of  land  in  Georgia. 

The  Indians  on  the  Ohio  having  become  hostile,  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Virginia  sent  about  fourteen  hundred  troops  into  that 
country.  In  a  battle  which  took  place  on  the  10th  of  October 
the  troops  were  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  four  hundred  killed  and 
one  hundred  wounded. 

At  this  time  there  were  6464  negroes  in  Connecticut  and 
3761  in  Rhode  Island. 

The  streets  of  Boston  for  the  first  time  were  lighted  with 
lamps. 

The  first  dwelling-house  in  Kentucky  was  erected  this  year, 
on  or  near  the  site  of  the  town  of  Harrodsburg. 
1775     The  British  Government  continued  its  coercive  measures 
against  the  American  colonies,  notwithstanding  the  opposition 


34  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  some  of  the  most  eminent  members  of  parliament.  The 
petition  from  congress  to  the  king  had  been  referred  by  him 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  which  body  refused  to  hear  and 
discuss  it  by  a  large  majority.  Bills  were  passed  restraining 
the  trade  of  New  England,  and  to  prohibit  the  colonists  from 
engaging  in  fishery  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  Acts  were 
passed  soon  after  restraining  trade  and  commerce  in  some  of 
the  Middle  and  Southern  colonies. 

In  the  colonies  preparations  for  defence  in  case  of  hostilities 
were  made  in  all  parts.  In  Massachusetts  a  rupture  was  im 
minent  at  any  time,  and  the  people  of  Boston  were  so  exasper 
ated  that  they  were  ready  for  open  war.  The  occasion  soon 
arrived.  A  quantity  of  military  stores  were  stored  at  Concord,  a 
place  about  eighteen  miles  inland  from  Boston.  General  Gage 
on  the  19th  of  April  sent  about  eight  hundred  British  troops  to 
destroy  them.  On  the  arrival  of  the  soldiers  at  Lexington, 
they  met  about  seventy  armed  colonists,  who  were  ordered  to 
disperse  by  the  British  officer.  Upon  their  not  obeying  this 
order  instantly,  he  directed  his  troops  to  fire  upon  them.  This 
order  was  obeyed,  and  eight  of  the  colonists  were  killed  and 
several  wounded  ;  the  rest  dispersed.  The  firing  continued 
after  the  dispersion,  and  the  fugitives  stopped  and  returned  the 
fire.  The  British  detachment  proceeded  to  Concord.  The  in 
habitants  of  that  town  having  received  the  alarm,  drew  up  in 
order  for  defence,  but  observing  the  number  of  the  British 
troops,  they  retired  and  waited  for  reinforcements.  A  party  of 
light  infantry  followed  them,  while  the  main  body  proceeded  to 
execute  their  commission.  They  disabled  cannon,  threw  five 
hundred  pounds  of  ball  into  the  river  and  wells,  and  broke  in 
pieces  about  sixty  barrels  of  flour.  In  the  mean  time  a  skir 
mish  ensued  between  the  colonists  and  the  light  infantry,  and 
the  British  troops  were  forced  to  retreat  with  some  loss.  They 
were  soon  joined  by  the  main  body,  and  the  detachment  re 
treated  writh  precipitancy.  All  the  people  of  the  adjacent 
country  were  by  this  time  in  arms,  and  they  attacked  the  re 
treating  troops  in  every  direction  until  they  drew  near  to  Bos 
ton.  The  battle  at  Lexington  was  a  signal  of  war.  The  forts, 
magazines,  and  arsenals  throughout  the  colonies  were  instantly 
secured  by  the  people.  Regular  forces  were  raised,  and 
money  issued  for  their  support.  An  army  of  twenty  thousand 
men  appeared  in  the  environs  of  Boston,  and  formed  an  em- 
campment  from  Roxbury  to  the  Mystic  River.  This  army  was 
soon  increased  by  a  large  body  of  troops  from  Connecticut ; 
and  by  these  collective  forces  the  king's  troops  were  closely 
blocked  up  in  the  peninsula  of  Boston. 

It  was  soon  perceived  by  the  colonists  that  the  possession  of 
Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  would  be  of  great  importance. 
An  expedition  consisting  of  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  men 
from  New  Hampshire  Grants  under  Colonel  Ethan  Allen, 
joined  with  a  small  body  of  Connecticut  militia  under  Colonel 
Benedict  Arnold,  proceeded  on  that  enterprise.  On  the  10th  of 
May  they  surprised  the  fort  at  Ticonderoga  garrisoned  by 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UXITED    STATES.  35 

British  soldiers,  and  compelled  its  surrender,  with  many  valu 
able  stores.  Crown  Point  was  taken  soon  afterward,  and  the 
command  of  Lakes  George  and  Champlain  secured  by  the 
colonists. 

Toward  the  end  of  May  a  considerable  force  of  British  troops 
arrived  at  Boston  from  England,  and  about  the  same  time 
Generals  Howe,  Burgoyne,  and  Clinton,  who  had  gained  con 
siderable  reputation  in  preceding  wars.  The  movements  of  the 
British  army  excited  an  apprehension  that  General  Gage  in 
tended  to  penetrate  into  the  country.  It  was  therefore  ordered 
by  congress  that  measures  should  be  taken  for  the  defence  of 
Dorchester  Neck,  and  to  occupy  Bunker  Hill.  This  hill,  which 
is  high  and  commanding,  stands  at  the  entrance  of  the  peninsula 
of  Charlestown.  Orders  were  accordingly  issued  on  the  16th 
of  June  for  a  detachment  of  one  thousand  men  to  take  posses 
sion  of  that  eminence,  but  by  some  mistake  Breed's  Hill  was 
marked  out  instead  of  Bunker  Hill  for  the  projected  intrench- 
metits.  About  nine  in  the  evening  the  detachment  moved  from 
Cambridge,  and  passing  silently  over  Charlestown  Neck, 
ascended  Breed's  Hill  and  reached  the  top  without  being  ob 
served.  The  Americans  immediately  'commenced  their  work, 
and  labored  with  such  diligence  that  by  dawn  of  day  they  had 
thrown  up  a  redoubt  about  eight  rods  square.  At  break  of 
day  the  work  was  discovered  in  Boston,  and  General  Gage  de 
spatched  thirty  companies  of  troops  with  artillery  to  dislodge 
the  Americans,  but  they  perceiving  that  the  hill  was  well  forti 
fied  concluded  to  await  reinforcements  from  Boston.  Mean 
while  the  Americans  were  reinforced,  and  they  awaited  the  as 
sault.  The  battle  soon  commenced.  The  British  were  twice 
repulsed  with  great  loss,  and  driven  back  in  confusion.  Upon 
a  third  attack  the  ammunition  of  the  Americans  gave  out  and 
a  retreat  was  ordered,  after  an  obstinate  resistance  with  their 
bayonets.  Meanwhile  the  British  set  fire  to  the  village  of 
Charlestown  and  destroyed  about  four  hundred  houses.  In  the 
engagement  the  British  employed  about  three  thousand  men, 
and  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  1054;  the  number  of  Americans 
engaged  was  about  fifteen  hundred,  and  their  loss  was  453. 

On  the  10th  of  May  a  second  Continental  Congress  met  at 
Philadelphia,  and  voted  that  20,000  men  should  be  immediately 
raised  and  equipped,  and  unanimously  chose  George  Washing 
ton,  who  was  then  a  delegate  from  Virginia,  to  be  commander- 
in-chief  of  all  the  continental  forces.  It  was  also  voted  to 
issue  bills  of  credit  to  the  amount  of  three  millions  of  Spanish 
dollars  to  help  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war.  On  the  3d  of 
July  General  Washington  arrived  at  Cambridge  and  took  com 
mand  of  the  American  army. 

Two  expeditions  against  the  British  in  Canada  were  organ 
ized:  one  under  General  Montgomery  captured  Montreal,  took 
a  large  number  as  prisoners,  and  secured  considerable  valuable 
property,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Quebec.  The  other  expedi 
tion  under  the  command  of  Benedict  Arnold  marched  through 
the  wilderness  of  Maine  and  Canada,  and  joined  the  forces  of 


36  HISTOEY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Montgomery  before  Quebec.  On  the  last  day  of  the  year  an 
assault  was  made  on  that  place,  in  which  General  Montgomery 
was  killed. 

Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  each  armed 
and  equipped  two  vessels  to  operate  against  the  enemy.  Con 
gress  also  resolved  to  equip  an  armament  of  thirteen  vessels. 
On  the  29th  of  November  an  American  privateer  captured 
three  ships  from  London,  Glasgow,  and  Liverpool,  containing 
military  stores  for  the  British  army. 

Congress  voted  that  a  line  of  posts  should  be  established 
from  Maine  to  Georgia,  and  appointed  Benjamin  Franklin 
Postmaster- General . 

Colonel  Moultrie,  of  the  South  Carolina  militia,  took  posses 
sion  of  Fort  Johnson,  on  St.  James'  Island,  in  September. 

A  British  ship,  with  other  armed  cruisers,  sailed  into  the  har 
bor  of  Bristol,  R.  L,  on  the  7th  of  October,  and  fired  upon  the 
town,  doing  great  damage  to  the  place.  On  the  10th  of  De 
cember  they  destroyed  the  buildings  on  Conanicut  Island. 

In  July  a  great  number  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  Six 
Confederate  Nations  assembled  in  Montreal,  and  agreed  to  sup 
port  the  cause  of  the  king. 

In  the  autumn  General  Gage  sailed  for  England,  and  the 
command  of  the  British  army  devolved  upon  Sir  William 
Howe. 

The  first  anti-slavery  society  in  America  was  formed  in  Phil 
adelphia  on  the  14th  of  April,  and  was  composed  mostly  of 
Quakers. 

1776  The  measures  of  the  British  Government  accelerated  an  event 
which,  if  anticipated  and  wished  for  by  a  few  of  the  colonists, 
had  not  hitherto  been  generally  desired.  Independence  was 
not  the  object  of  the  controversy  on  the  part  of  the  colonies, 
but  constitutional  liberty.  During  the  last  session  of  parlia 
ment  the  ultimate  plan  for  reducing  the  colonies  was  fixed. 
The  Americans  were  declared  out  of  the  royal  protection,  and 
seventeen  thousand  foreign  mercenaries  were  to  be  employed  to 
aid  in  their  subjugation.  On  the  7th  of  June  a  motion  was 
made  in  congress  for  declaring  the  colonies  free  and  independ 
ent.  After  a  full  discussion,  on  the  4th  of  July  the  measure 
was  approved  by  nearly  an  unanimous  vote.  The  Declaration 
of  Independence  concluded  with  these  words:  "We,  there 
fore,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
General  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge 
of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the 
name  and  by  authority  of  the  good  people  of  these  colonies, 
solemnly  declare  that  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  FKEE  AKD  INDEPENDENT  STATES;  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and 
that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of 
Great  Britain  is  and  ought  to  be  totally  dissolved;  and  that  as 
free  and  independent  States  they  have  full  power  to  levy  war, 
conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to 
do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  independent  States  ought  to- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  37 

do.  And  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  with  a  firm  reli 
ance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we  mutually 
pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred 
honor." 

Since  the  arrival  of  General  Washington  at  Cambridge,  his 
time  had  been  principally  engaged  in  organizing  an  army  out  of 
new  recruits,  and  in  efforts  to  provide  them  with  ammunition 
and  suitable  clothing.  The  time  of  the  first  volunteers  had  ex 
pired,  and  the  army  had  disbanded.  The  effective  regular 
force  of  the  Americans  in  February  was  a  little  over  fourteen 
thousand  men;  in  addition  to  which  about  six  thousand  of  the 
militia  of  Massachusetts  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  Comman- 
der-in-Chief .  With  these  troops  he  determined  to  take  posses 
sion  of  Dorchester  Heights,  whence  it  would  be  in  his  power 
greatly  to  annoy  the  enemy's  ships  in  the  harbor  and  the  troops 
in  the  town.  To  conceal  his  design  and  to  divert  the  attention 
of  the  garrison,  a  heavy  bombardment  of  the  town  and  lines  of 
the  enemy  was  begun  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  March,  and 
repeated  the  two  succeeding  nights.  On  the  night  of  the 
4th,  immediately  after  the  firing  began,  he  directed  a  considera 
ble  detachment  to  take  possession  of  the  Heights.  This  was 
silently  accomplished,  and  by  working  all  night,  works  were 
constructed  that  would  protect  them  in  a  measure  from  the 
shot  of  the  enemy.  When  the  British  at  daybreak  discovered 
this  undertaking,  they  became  aware  that  they  must  either  dis 
lodge  the  Americans  or  evacuate  Boston.  They  chose  the  lat 
ter  alternative.  A  fortnight  elapsed  before  that  measure  was 
effected.  On  the  17th  of  March  the  last  of  the  British  em 
barked  in  their  ships  and  sailed  away;  and  General  Washington 
marched  into  the  town,  where  he  was  joyfully  received  as  a  de 
liverer. 

General  Arnold  continued  the  blockade  of  Quebec,  but  in  a 
council  of  war  it  was  unanimously  determined  that  the  troops 
were  in  no  condition  to  make  an  assault,  and  the  army  was  re 
moved  to  a  more  defensible  position.  The  Canadians  at  this 
juncture  receiving  considerable  reinforcements,  the  Americans 
were  compelled  to  relinquish  one  post  after  another,  until  by 
the  18th  of  June  they  evacuated  Canada  altogether. 

The  British,  in  their  projected  campaign  of  this  year,  pro 
posed  two  objects  :  one  to  make  an  attack  on  some  of  the  south 
ern  colonies  ;  the  other  was  to  take  possession  of  New  York. 
The  execution  of  the  first  was  committed  to  General  Clinton 
and  Sir  Peter  Parker  ;  that  of  the  latter  to  Sir  William  Howe 
and  his  brother,  Admiral  Lord  Howe.  On  the  28th  of  June 
the  British  forces  made  an  attack  on  the  fort  on  Sullivan's 
Island  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  The  bombardment 
continued  upward  of  ten  hours,  when  the  enterprise  was  aban 
doned.  The  British  lost  more  than  two  hundred  men  in  killed 
and  wounded  ;  the  Americans,  thirty-two.  In  honor  of  the 
commander  of  the  fort,  its  name  was  now  changed  to  Fort 
Moultrie. 

General  Washington,  assuming  that  the  British  would  make 


38  H1STOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

an  attempt  upon  New  York,  removed  the  greater  part  of  his 
army  to  that  city  soon  after  the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the 
enemy.  General  Howe,  with  the  force  which  he  had  com 
manded  in  Boston,  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook  on  the  25th  of  June, 
and  in  less  than  three  weeks  was  joined  by  his  brother,  the  Ad 
miral,  with  reinforcements  from  England.  Soon  afterward 
the  British  forces  were  augmented  by  the  arrival  of  General 
Clinton  and  his  troops  from  Charleston,  and  another  reinforce 
ment  from  England  of  Hessian  and  other  foreign  soldiers.  The 
number  of  the  British  forces  then  amounted  to  about  twenty- 
four  thousand  men.  The  British  commanders,  having  resolved 
to  make  their  first  attempt  on  Long  Island,  landed  their  forces 
on  the  22d  of  August  at  Gravesend  Bay.  The  Americans,  to 
the  amount  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  under  General  Sullivan, 
were  posted  on  a  peninsula  of  Long  Island  opposite  New  York. 
Here  they  had  erected  strong  fortifications  and  a  line  of  in- 
trenchments  inclosing  a  large  tract  of  ground  near  the  village 
of  Brooklyn,  within  which  stood  the  American  camp.  On  the 
27th  of  August  an  engagement  took  place  between  portions  of 
the  armies,  in  which  the  Americans  were  defeated,  and  the 
enemy  encamped  within  six  hundred  yards  of  the  American 
lines.  On  the  30th,  as  the  American  army  appeared  to  be  in 
a  critical  position,  and  the  British  fleet  indicated  an  intention 
to  force  a  passage  into  the  East  River,  it  was  determined  to  re 
treat  from  Long  Island,  and  cross  to  New  York.  This  difficult 
movement  was  accomplished  with  success.  It  was  now  deemed 
prudent,  in  a  council  of  war  called  by  General  Washington,  that 
the  army  should  evacuate  the  city.  This  was  accomplished, 
although  all  the  heavy  artillery  and  a  large  portion  of  the  bag 
gage  and  military  stores  were  unavoidably  left  behind  and 
abandoned  to  the  enemy.  General  Washington  now  retreated 
to  the  upper  part  of  New  York  island,  the  British  having  en 
tered  and  taken  possession  of  the  city.  A  demonstration  was 
soon  made  by  the  enemy  to  get  in  the  rear  of  the  Americans, 
who  thereupon  retreated  into  Westchester  ;  General  Washing 
ton  first  assigning  about  three  thousand  men  for  the  defence  of 
Fort  Washington,  near  the  junction  of  Hudson  and  Harlem 
rivers.  At  White  Plains  a  battle  was  fought  on  the  28th  of 
October,  with  the  loss  of  several  hundred  men  on  each  side ; 
and  soon  afterwards  the  Americans  retreated  to  the  heights  of 
North  Castle,  about  five  miles  beyond  White  Plains.  Here 
they  were  in  so  strong  a  position,  General  Howe  decided  to 
change  the  plan  of  his  operations.  General  Washington,  leav 
ing  about  seventy-five  hundred  men  at  North  Castle  under  Gen 
eral  Lee,  crossed  over  to  New  Jersey  with  the  remainder  of  his 
troops,  and  encamped  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Lee.  Sir 
William  Howe  now  determined  upon  the  reduction  of  Fort 
Washington,  where  he  shortly  appeared  and  made  an  attack, 
and  on  the  16th  of  November  compelled  its  surrender  with  all 
the  garrison.  Soon  afterward,  the  British  crossed  the  river  to 
attack  Fort  Lee,  which  they  took  without  assault,  the  Ameri 
cans  evacuating  the  place  upon  their  approach.  They  im- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  3& 

mediately  started  in  pursuit  of  General  Washington,  who  re 
treated  from  place  to  place  in  New  Jersey,  and  crossed  the 
Delaware  into  Pennsylvania,  opposite  Trenton. 

On  the  day  of  General  Washington's  retreat  across  the  Dela 
ware  a  portion  of  the  British  forces  made  a  descent  on  Rhode 
Island,  and  took  possession  of  the  bay,  blocking  up  the  ports  of 
that  State. 

Fearing  that  Philadelphia  and  its  neighborhood  would  now 
become  the  seat  of  war,  congress  removed  from  that  place  and 
established  itself  at  Baltimore. 

The  American  army  having  been  reinforced,  General  Wash 
ington  resolved  to  recross  the  Delaware  and  surprise  the  British 
at  Trenton.  On  the  night  of  the  25th  of  December  he  accom 
plished  that  purpose,  and  on  the  next  day  routed  the  enemy  and 
took  about  one  thousand  prisoners,  together  with  a  large  amount 
of  arms  and  military  stores. 

After  the  retreat  of  the  Americans  from  Long  Island,  Nathan 
Hale,  a  captain  in  the  American  army,  passed  in  disguise  to 
that  island,  examined  every  part  of  the  British  army  stationed 
there,  and  obtained  intelligence  of  its  situation  and  intended 
operations.  Upon  returning  his  purposes  were  discovered,  and 
he  was  apprehended  and  executed  as  a  spy. 

On  the  first  day  of  this  year  a  British  fleet  attacked  the  town 
of  Norfolk,  in  Virginia,  and  destroyed  the  place. 

On  the  27th  of  February  a  large  party  of  Americans  in  North 
Carolina  attached  to  the  royal  cause  were  defeated  in  an  en 
gagement  with  the  militia,  and  lost  a  large  amount  of  ammuni 
tion  and  military  stores.  This  defeat  prevented  further  efforts 
on  the  part  of  the  royalists  in  that  State. 

On  the  llth  of  October  there  was  a  severe  naval  engagement 
on  Lake  Champlain,  which  lasted  four  hours;  one  of  the  Ameri 
can  vessels  was  destroyed,  and  the  others  retired  to  Crown 
Point. 

The  Cherokee  Indians  commenced  a  war  in  South  Carolina  in 
July,  which  lasted  three  months.  The  Indians  were  defeated, 
and  all  their  settlements  destroyed  east  of  the  mountains. 

A  conflagration  occurred  in  New  York  on  the  21st  of  Sep 
tember,  and  destroyed  four  hundred  and  ninety-three  buildings, 
including  Trinity  Church. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  New  York  was  supplied  with 
water  conveyed  through  pipes  in  the  streets.  A  reservoir  was 
constructed  on  the  east  side  of  Broadway,  near  Pearl  Street, 
into  which  water  was  raised  by  pumping  from  wells  sunk  on 
the  premises  and  from  the  Collect  pond. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  in  California,  was  made  this 
year  by  Catholic  missionaries,  near  the  site  of  San  Francisco. 
Soon  afterward  a  few  houses  were  erected  on  the  site  of  the 
city,  and  this  settlement  was  called  Yerba  Buena. 
1777  The  Americans  had  hitherto  been  very  deficient  in  arms  and 
ammunition,  but  in  the  spring  of  this  year  a  ship  arrived  at 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  from  France,  with  upward  of 
eleven  thousand  stand  of  arms  and  one  thousand  barrels  of  gun- 


40  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

powder,  and  about  the  same  time  ten  thousand  stand  of  arms 
arrived  at  anotherport. 

The  operations  of  the  army  under  General  Washington 
during  this  year  were  confined  to  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylva 
nia.  The  British  were  driven  out  of  New  Jersey,  and  they 
then  formed  the  plan  of  taking  possession  of  Philadelphia,  by 
an  approach  by  the  way  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  In  August,  Sir 
William  Howe  sailed  from  the  harbor  of  New  York,  with  six 
teen  thousand  men,  and  arrived  on  the  24th  at  the  head  of  Elk 
River,  in  Maryland,  near  the  borders  of  Delaware.  Thence  the 
army  marched  in  twTo  columns  toward  Philadelphia.  On  the 
llth  of  September,  the  British  approached  the  American  army, 
which  was  posted  on  the  Braudywine  River,  and  in  an  engage 
ment  defeated  them  with  considerable  loss,  and  compelled  them 
to  retreat.  On  the  next  day  General  "Washington  entered  Phila 
delphia.  On  the  19th,  the  Americans  crossed  the  Schuylkill, 
and  encamped  on  the  eastern  bank  of  that  river,  while  detach 
ments  of  the  army  were  posted  at  the  several  fords  over  which 
the  enemy  would  probably  attempt  a  passage.  In  the  night  of 
the  20th,  General  "Wayne,  who  with  fifteen  hundred  Americans 
had  concealed  himself  in  the  woods  with  the  intention  of  har 
assing  the  rear  of  the  British  army,  was  surprised  by  the  enemy 
and  lost  about  three  hundred  men.  On  the  23d,  Sir  William 
Howe,  having  secured  the  command  of  the  Schuylkill,  crossed 
it  with  his  whole  army,  and  on  the  26th  he  advanced  to  Ger- 
mantown,  and  on  the  succeeding  day  took  peaceable  possession 
of  Philadelphia.  The  American  army  being  reinforced,  now 
amounting  to  about  eleven  thousand  men,  took  a  position  on 
the  east  side  of  the  ScLuylkill  and  about  sixteen  miles  from 
Germantown.  At  this  last  place  lay  the  main  body  of  the  Brit 
ish  army.  While  General  Howe  was  occupied  in  reducing  the 
forts  on  the  Delaware  so  as  to  secure  a  safe  passage  for  the  Brit 
ish  fleet,  General  Washington  f  ormed  a  plan  to  surprise  his  army 
at  Germantown.  This  attempt  was  unsuccessful)  and  the 
Americans  suffered  in  a  battle  that  took  place  a  loss  of  about 
twelve  hundred  men.  The  campaign  in  Pennsylvania  ended 
for  the  season  soon  afterward,  and  General  Washington  retired 
to  winter  quarters  at  Valley  Forge  and  the  British  to  Phila 
delphia. 

While  General  Washington  was  conducting  the  war  in  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  events  of  great  importance  transpired 
in  the  North.  A  principal  object  of  the  British  in  the  cam 
paign  of  this  year  was  to  open  a  free  communication  between 
New  York  and  Canada,  with  the  hope  that  by  affecting  that 
object,  New  England  might  be  severed  from  the  other  States 
and  compelled  to  submission.  In  prosecution  of  this  design, 
an  army  of  British  and  German  troops,  amounting  to  a  little 
over  seven  thousand  men,  exclusive  of  a  corps  of  artillery, 
was  put  under  the  command  of  General  Burgoyne,  who  was  to 
advance  from  Canada  by  the  way  of  Lake  Champlain,  and 
force  his  way  to  Albany,  or  so  far  as  to  effect  a  junction  with 
the  royal  troops  which  were  to  advance  from  the  city  of  New 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  41 

York.  Another  body  of  British  troops  under  the  command  of 
Col.  St.  Leger,  with  a  large  force  of  Indians  and  a  regiment  of 
New  York  loyalists,  were  to  ascend  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Lake 
Ontario,  and  from  that  quarter  to  penetrate  towards  Albany  by 
the  way  of  the  Mohawk  River.  Before  the  campaign  was 
opened,  the  British  dispatched  two  expeditions  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  military  stores  deposited  by  the  Americans  at  Peekskill 
and  Danbury.  At  Peekskill  they  captured  a  large  amount  of 
provisions,  forage,  and  other  valuable  property.  At  Danbury, 
the  British  destroyed  eighteen  houses,  800  barrels  of  pork  and 
beef,  800  barrels  of  flour,  2000  bushels  of  grain,  and  1700  tents. 
These  predatory  excursions  were  not  long  after  retaliated.  On 
the  23d  of  May  a  body  of  Connecticut  troops  crossed  the  Sound 
and  surprised  the  town  of  Sag  Harbor,  on  Long  Island,  and 
burned  a  large  amount  of  forage  which  had  been  collected 
there  for  the  British  army.  Twrel  ve  vessels  were  also  destroyed. 
General  Burgoyne  proceeded  up  Lake  Champlain  on  the  20th 
of  June  and  landed  near  Crown  Point,  where  he  was  reinforced 
by  a  large  number  of  Indians.  Upon  the  approach  of  the 
British,  the  Americans  evacuated  Fort  Ticonderoga,  and  the 
enemy  took  possession.  A  few  days  afterward  a  considerable 
detachment  of  the  British  army  met  and  defeated  an  inferior 
force  of  the  Americans,  who  suifered  a  loss  of  about  one  thou 
sand  men  in  the  engagement.  On  the  30th  of  July  General 
Burgoyne  reached  Fort  Edward,  and  the  American  army  under 
General  Schuyler  crossed  the  Hudson  and  took  position  at 
Saratoga.  Meanwhile  the  army  under  St.  Leger  had  ascended 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  arrived  at  Lake  Ontario,  and  with  an 
army  of  about  eighteen  hundred  men,  on  the  3d  of  August 
invested  Fort  Schuyler,  at  the  head  of  the  Mohawk  River.' 
This  fortress  was  garrisoned  by  about  six  hundred  American 
troops.  On  the  first  approach  of  the  British  troops,  General 
Herkimer,  who  commanded  the  American  militia  in  that 
neighborhood,  assembled  them  in  considerable  force  for  the 
relief  of  the  garrison.  St.  Leger  receiving  information  of  his 
approach,  sent  out  a  strong  detachment  of  regulars  and  Indians, 
to  waylay  him  on  the  road  by  which  he  was  to  march.  Herkimer 
fell  into  this  ambuscade,  and  his  men  were  defeated  with  great 
slaughter.  His  loss  was  estimated  at  about  four  hundred  men. 
General  Arnold  was  now  dispatched  with  a  brigade  of  troops 
to  attack  St.  Leger  ;  but  his  force  being  inferior  to  the  British, 
he  resolved  to  accomplish  by  strategy  what  he  could  not  expect 
to  do  by  force.  He  sent  a  spy  into  the  British  camp  to  spread 
the  news  of  an  exaggerated  account  of  the  size  of  his  army. 
The  stratagem  was  successful ;  the  Indians  fled,  and  St.  Leger 
decamped  in  confusion  and  returned  to  Montreal,  leaving  be 
hind  him  his  tents  and  most  of  his  artillery  and  stores.  About 
the  same  time  General  Burgoyne  dispatched  about  six  hun 
dred  of  his  German  troops,  and  soon  afterwards  another  body  of 
five  hundred  men,  to  Bennington,  a  town  in  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Grants,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  a  large  depot  of  pro 
visions  and  carriages  stored  there  for  the  northern  army.  On 


42  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  16th  of  August  these  forces  were  attacked  by  General 
Stark,  who  was  on  his  march  with  about  sixteen  hundred  men, 
to  join  the  northern  army.  The  British  were  defeated,  and 
suffered  a  loss  of  more  than  one  half  their  forces,  besides  a  large 
amount  of  arms.  General  Burgoyne  having  collected  about 
thirty  days'  provisions  and  thrown  a  bridge  of  boats  across  the 
Hudson,  crossed  that  river  on  the  13th  and  14th  of  September, 
and  encamped  on  the  heights  and  plains  of  Saratoga.  General 
Gates,  who  had  recently  taken  the  chief  command  of  the  north 
ern  department  of  the  American  army,  advanced  towards  the 
enemy  and  encamped  three  miles  above  Stillwater.  On  the 
night  of  the  17th  General  Burgoyne  encamped  within  four 
miles  of  the  American  army,  and  on  the  19th  advanced  in  full 
force  against  it.  An  engagement  took  place,  in  which  a  consid 
erable  portion  of  the  armies  took  part.  Each  side  suffered  a 
loss  of  about  six  hundred  men.  Both  armies  lay  for  some 
time  in  sight  of  each  other,  the  British  being  daily  reduced  by 
desertions  of  the  Indians,  and  the  American  army  continually 
augmented  by  reinforcements.  To  aggravate  his  distress,  no 
intelligence  had  yet  been  received  of  any  diversion  in  his 
favor  from  the  army  at  New  York.  In  this  emergency 
General  Burgoyne  made  preparations  to  effect  a  retreat  to  the 
lakes  by  dislodging  the  Americans  from  their  posts  on  the  left. 
In  this  attempt  he  met  with  defeat  and  a  loss  of  several  hun 
dred  men,  including  some  of  his  most  valuable  officers  ;  also  a 
loss  of  nine  pieces  of  artillery,  and  the  encampment  of  a  Ger 
man  brigade  with  all  their  equipage.  General  Gates  now 
posted  fifteen  hundred  men  on  the  heights  opposite  the  ford  in 
Saratoga,  two  thousand  in  the  rear  to  prevent  a  retreat  to  Fort 
Edward,  and  fifteen  hundred  at  a  ford  higher  up.  The  British 
were  now  almost  encircled  ;  the  Americans,  already  superior  in 
numbers,  were  daily  reinforced,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no 
avenue  for  Burgoyne  to  escape.  In  this  dilemma  the  British 
commander  called  a  council  of  war,  in  which  it  was  unani 
mously  resolved  to  enter  into  a  convention  with  General  Gates. 
Preliminaries  were  soon  settled,  and  the  royal  army  surrendered 
prisoners  of  war.  The  whole  number  that  surrendered  were 
5752.  Besides  these,  there  were  left  528  of  sick  and  wounded  in 
the  British  camp  when  Burgoyne  began  his  retreat.  At  the 
same  time  there  were  taken  39  brass  cannon,  5000  stand  of 
arms,  400  sets  of  harness,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  other 
military  property.  The  British  lost  between  the  6th  of  July 
and  the  16th  of  October,  in  killed,  wounded,  and  desertions, 
nearly  three  thousand  men.  Soon  afterward  the  British  aban 
doned  Ticonderoga,  which  post  was  then  immediately  occupied 
l>y  the  Americans. 

Although  Sir  Henry  Clinton  afforded  no  relief  to  General 
Burgoyne,  he  succeeded  in  capturing  Forts  Clinton  and  Mont 
gomery  on  the  Hudson  River  in  October,  which  if  done  earlier 
might  possibly  have  had  that  effect. 

On  the  15th  of  November  the  thirteen  States  by  their  repre 
sentatives  in  congress  entered  into  Articles  of  Confederation. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  43 

By  these  articles  the  style  of  the  confederacy  was  to  be  "  The 
United  States  of  America,"  and  each  State  was  to  retain  its 
sovereignty  and  independence,  and  every  power,  jurisdiction, 
and  right  which  was  not  expressly  delegated  to  the  confedera. 
tion.  A  firm  league  was  entered  into,  by  which  the  States  were 
to  be  united  for  the  common  defence  and  for  securing  their 
liberties  and  mutual  and  general  welfare.  These  articles  were 
to  be  submitted  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  for  their 
approval  and  ratification. 

Congress  resolved  that  the  flag  of  the  confederacy  should  be 
of  thirteen  stripes,  alternate  red  and  white,  and  that  the  Union 
be  thirteen  white  stars  in  a  blue  field. 

Congress  resolved  to  appoint  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette,  who 
offered  his  services  to  the  cause,  to  the  rank  of  major-general 
in  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  New  Jersey  was  issued  at 
Burlington  on  the  3d  of  December,  and  called  the  New  Jersey 
Gazette. 

Cold-cut  iron  nails  were  now  manufactured  at  Cumberland, 
R.  I.,  and  it  is  said  these  were  the  first  made  in  this  or  any 
other  country. 

1778  The  success  of  the  Americans  in  the  northern  campaign  of 
the  last  year  rendered  it  less  difficult  to  secure  foreign  aid  and 
influence.  A  plan  of  treaty  to  be  proposed  to  foreign  powers 
had  been  formed  by  congress,  and  commissioners  were  sent 
to  Paris  to  solicit  its  acceptance  by  the  King  of  France.  For 
more  than  a  year  they  were  kept  in  a  state  of  uncertainty. 
They  received  private  encouragement,  but  could  obtain  no 
public  acknowledgment.  The  capture  of  Burgoyne  fixed  the 
wavering  policy  of  the  French  court,  and  on  the  6th  of  Febru 
ary  the  King  of  France  entered  into  a  treaty  of  alliance  with 
the  United  States,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  if  war  should 
break  out  between  France  and  England  during  the  existence  of 
that  with  the  United  States,  it  should  be  made  a  common  cause, 
and  that  neither  of  the  contracting  parties  should  conclude 
either  truce  or  peace  with  Great  Britain  without  first  obtaining 
the  formal  consent  of  the  other;  and  they  mutually  agreed  not 
to  lay  down  their  arms  until  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  should  be  formally  or  tacitly  assured  by  the  treaty  or 
treaties  that  should  terminate  the  war. 

On  the  alliance  of  America  with  France  it  was  resolved  in 
Great  Britain  immediately  to  evacuate  Philadelphia,  and  to  con 
centrate  the  royal  force  in  the  harbor  and  city  of  New  York. 
In  pursuance  with  this  resolution,  the  British  army  on  the  18th 
of  June  passed  over  the  Delaware  into  New  Jersey  and  com 
menced  its  march  to  New  York.  At  Monmouth  they  were  at 
tacked  by  the  Americans,  and  a  battle  ensued  in  which  both 
sides  claimed  the  victory,  although  the  British  loss  was  much 
greater  than  their  opponents.  Soon  after  the  evacuation  con 
gress  removed  to  Philadelphia. 

In  July  a  French  fleet  with  about  four  thousand  troops 
under  the  command  of  Count  D'Estaing,  arrived  on  the  coast 


44  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  Virginia.  Failing  in  his  object  of  surprising  the  British 
fleet  in  the  Delaware,  he  proceeded  towards  New  York  for  the 
purpose  of  attacking  them  there;  but  rinding  that  to  be  imprac 
ticable,  he  sailed  for  Newport  upon  the  advice  of  General 
Washington,  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  Americans  in  an  at 
tempt  on  Rhode  Island,  where  he  arrived  on  the  25th  of  July. 
Soon  afterward  a  British  fleet  appeared  for  the  relief  of  New 
port,  and  the  two  fleets  sailed  out  to  sea.  After  manojuvring' 
for  two  days  without  coming  to  action,  they  were  separated 
by  a  violent  storm,  and  the  French  fleet  sailed  to  Boston  to 
refit. 

The  year  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  no  important  advance 
had  been  made  by  the  British.  The  commander-in-chief  there 
fore  resolved  to  make  a  demonstration  upon  the  Southern 
States.  A  project  was  formed  to  invade  Georgia  from  the 
north  and  south.  On  the  27th  of  November  a  fleet  sailed  from 
New  York  with  about  two  thousand  men,  to  act  in  concert  with 
the  British  troops  stationed  in  East  Florida.  On  the  29th  of 
December  an  attack  was  made  upon  the  Americans  who  were 
defending  Savannah.  The  British  were  victorious,  killing 
about  one  hundred  of  the  Americans  and  taking  prisoners 
thirty-eight  officers  and  four  hundred  and  fifteen  privates.  The 
town  and  port  of  Savannah  were  captured,  with  forty  eight 
cannon,  twenty-three  mortars,  all  the  ammunition  and  stores, 
the  shipping  in  the  river,  and  a  large  quantity  of  provisions. 

A  horrible  massacre  wras  committed  at  the  village  of  Wyom 
ing,  in  Pennsylvania,  by  a  body  of  Tories  and  Indians.  More 
than  two  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  were  slaughtered,  and 
nearly  all  the  houses  and  property  in  the  place  destroyed. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  M.  Gerard,  the  minister  appointed 
from  France  for  the  United  States,  arrived  at  Philadelphia. 

On  the  14th  of  September  Congress  appointed  Benjamin 
Franklin  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  to  the 
Court  of  France. 

The  number  of  American  prisoners  confined  in  the  jails  of 
Great  Britain,  early  in  the  year,  was  computed  to  be  924.  A 
meeting  in  London  was  convened  to  relieve  their  distresses,  and 
subscriptions  were  raised  there  and  in  the  country  of  nearly 
twenty  thousand  dollars  for  that  purpose. 

Vermont  was  constituted  a  State  on  the  13th  of  March. 

In  August  a  fire  in  New  York  consumed  about  three  hun 
dred  houses  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  city. 

1779  The  campaign  of  this  year  was  barren  in  important  events. 
At  the  North  a  few  enterprises  were  inaugurated  by  small  de 
tachments  of  the  opposing  armies.  In  July  a  predatory  expe 
dition  was  undertaken  by  the  British  against  the  towns  on  the 
Connecticut  coast.  About  twenty-six  hundred  men,  under 
Governor  Tryon,  accompanied  by  a  fleet  of  armed  vessels, 
sailed  from  New  York  and  anchored  at  West  Haven.  A  de 
tachment  of  the  troops  marched  into  New  Haven,  and  for 
about  seven  hours  ravaged  and  plundered  the  town.  Thence 
they  successively  plundered  and  burned  the  towns  of  Fairfield, 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  45 

Green  Farms,  and  Norwalk.  In  the  same  month  the  Americans 
made  an  assault  on  the  fort  at  Stony  Point,  on  the  Hudson 
River,  and  captured  it,  taking  about  five  hundred  and  fifty 
prisoners,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  military  stores. 

An  expedition,  composed  of  a  large  force,  sailed  from  Boston 
in  July  to  dislodge  the  British  at  Penobscot,  hi  Maine,  where 
they  had  erected  strong  fortifications.  The  fleet  consisted  of 
twenty-four  transports  and  about  twenty  armed  vessels  and 
privateers.  The  enterprise  was  unsuccessful;  the  vessels  were 
all  taken  or  destroyed  by  the  British.  The  greater  portion  of 
the  sailors  and  troops,  however,  escaped,  and  returned  home  on 
foot,  exploring  their  way  through  a  trackless  wilderness. 

A  more  fortunate  expedition  was  undertaken  against  the  In 
dians  belonging  to  the  Six  Nations,  in  New  York,  under  the 
command  of  General  Sullivan.  The  Indians,  on  hearing  of 
the  projected  attack,  collected  their  strength,  took  possession  of 
a  favorable  location  for  defence,  and  strongly  fortified  it.  Gen 
eral  Sullivan  attacked  them  in  their  works  more  than  two 
hours,  when  they  fled  with  precipitation.  The  victorious 
army,  penetrating  into  the  heart  of  their  country,  destroyed 
their  villages,  and  laid  their  fields  and  gardens  desolate. 

In  March,  in  an  engagement  on  the  Savannah  River,  a  body 
of  about  fifteen  hundred  North  Carolina  militia  and  sixty  Con 
tinental  troops  were  defeated.  The  greater  part  of  the  militia 
threw  down  their  arms,  and  fled  in  confusion.  About  three 
hundred  men  were  killed  or  taken  prisoners. 

In  May,  a  large  British  force  appeared  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
and  summoned  the  town  to  surrender.  The  demand  not  being 
complied  with,  the  enemy,  having  intelligence  that  a  considera 
ble  reinforcement  of  American  troops  were  on  the  way,  re 
solved  to  retreat,  and  they  departed  at  night  without  inflicting 
any  injury  upon  the  town. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September  an  expedition  composed  of 
a  part  of  the  Southern  army,  and  the  French  fleet  under 
Count  D'Estaing,  consisting  of  eleven  frigates  and  twenty  sail 
of  the  line,  made  an  attack  on  the  fort  and  town  of  Savannah. 
It  being  at  length  ascertained  that  considerable  time  would  be 
necessary  to  reduce  the  place  by  regular  approaches,  it  was  de 
termined  to  make  an  assault.  The  assailants,  composed  of 
about  thirty-five  hundred  French  troops  and  one  thousand 
Americans,  were  repeatedly  driven  back  in  confusion  by  the 
enemy's  batteries;  and  after  sustaining  their  fire  for  an  hour, 
were  ordered  to  retreat.  About  nine  hundred  French  and 
American  soldiers  were  killed  or  wounded.  Immediately  after 
this  unsuccessful  assault,  the  American  militia,  discouraged, 
retired  to  their  homes,  and  the  French  fleet  left  the  country. 

In  May,  a  British  land  and  naval  force  made  a  descent  on  the 
coast  of  Virginia.  They  took  possession  of  Portsmouth  and 
Norfolk  ;  destroyed  the  houses,  naval  stores,  and  a  large  maga 
zine  of  provisions  at  Suffolk ;  made  a  similar  destruction  at 
Kemp's  Landing,  Shepherd's,  Gosport,  Tanner's  Creek,  and 
other  places  in  the  vicinity  ;  and  after  setting  fire  to  the  houses 


46  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  other  public  buildings  in  the  dockyard  at  Gosport,  em 
barked  with  their  booty  for  New  York. 

The  seat  for  the  government  of  Virginia  was  removed  from 
Williamsburg  to  Richmond  by  act  of  the  assembly.  At  this 
time  Richmond  was  so  insignificant  as  scarcely  able  to  afford 
accommodations  for  the  officers  of  the  government. 
1780  No  sooner  did  Sir  Henry  Clinton  receive  certain  information 
that  the  French  fleet  had  left  America,  than  he  set  forward  an 
expedition,  consisting  of  large  land  and  naval  forces,  against 
South  Carolina.  In  April  he  had  accomplished  the  investment 
of  Charleston  by  sea  and  land,  and  on  the  6th  of  May  com 
pelled  the  garrison  of  Fort  Moultrie  to  surrender.  The  capi 
tulation  of  the  city  soon  followed,  and  the  British  took  posses 
sion  of  the  place,  securing  above  five  thousand  surrendered 
prisoners  of  war,  besides  upwards  of  four  hundred  pieces  of 
artillery.  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  leaving  about  four  thousand  men 
under  the  command  of  General  Cornwallis  for  the  southern  ser 
vice,  embarked  early  in  June  for  New  York.  On  the  16th  of 
August  a  battle  took  place  near  Camden,  in  South  Carolina,  in 
which  the  Americans  were  defeated  with  severe  loss.  During 
the  year  several  engagements  and  skirmishes  took  place  at  the 
South  with  varying  successes  and  defeats. 

The  most  flagrant  instance  of  treachery  during  the  war  oc 
curred  this  year.  For  the  defence  of  the  Hudson  River  a  strong 
and  impregnable  fortress  had  "been  built  at  West  Point,  and  this 
had  been  intrusted  to  the  command  of  General  Benedict  Ar 
nold.  A  negotiation  with  Sir  Henry  Clinton  had  been  begun 
by  Arnold,  and  was  afterward  concluded  ;  by  which,  for  a  cer 
tain  remuneration  in  money  and  rank  in  the  enemy's  service, 
he  agreed  to  make  such  a  disposition  of  his  garrison  as  would 
enable  the  British  general  effectually  to  surprise  and  capture 
that  stronghold.  The  agent  employed  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in 
the  negotiations  was  Major  Andre,  adjutant-general  of  the  Brit 
ish  army.  To  favor  the  communications,  the  Vulture,  a  Brit 
ish  sloop  of  war,  had  been  stationed  in  the  river,  as  near  Arn 
old's  post  as  could  be  without  exciting  suspicion.  On  the  night 
of  the  21st  of  September,  Arnold  sent  a  boat  from  the  shore  to 
the  vessel  to  fetch  Major  Andre,  and  they  met  on  the  beach  to 
discuss  their  plans.  Their  business  not  being  finished,  until  it 
was  too  near  morning  for  Andre  to  return  to  the  Vulture  un 
observed,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  remain  on  shore  in  con 
cealment  until  night  time.  Meanwhile,  the  vessel  having  at 
tracted  the  suspicious  attention  of  people  on  the  shore,  sailed 
farther  away,  and  the  boatman  who  remained  to  carry  Andre 
back  refused,  against  all  remonstrances,  to  do  so.  There  was, 
therefore,  no  way  for  Andre  to  return  to  New  York  except  by 
land.  This  he  hesitatingly  concluded  to  do.  Changing  his 
uniform  for  citizen's  clothes,  and  mounted  on  a  good  horse,  ac 
companied  with  a  guide  and  a  negro  servant,  and  having  a  pass 
port  signed  by  Arnold,  he  crossed  the  river  at  Verplanck's  Point 
early  in  the  morning,  and  proceeded  toward  White  Plains.  When 
they  reached,  as  they  supposed,  neutral  ground  beyond  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  47 

American  lines,  the  guide  and  servant  turned  back,  and  Andre 
rode  on  alone  towards  New  York.  When  near  Tarrytown,  he  was 
stopped  and  questioned  by  three  armed  militiamen  whom  he 
met  on  the  road.  Not  being  satisfied,  even  when  shown  Arnold's 
pass,  they  insisted  upon  searching  him,  and  discovered,  con 
cealed  between  his  stockings  and  feet,  the  papers  given  him  by 
Arnold.  Andre  now  offered  his  captors  tempting  bribes  to  be 
allowed  to  pass  on,  but  these  were  rejected  with  indignation, 
and  he  was  escorted  to  the  nearest  American  quarters,  and  de 
livered  up.  General  Washington  referred  the  case  of  Andre  to 
the  examination  and  decision  of  a  board  consisting  of  fourteen 
officers,  who,  without  examining  a  single  witness,  founded  their 
report  on  his  own  confession.  They  adjudged  that  he  ought  to  be 
considered  a  spy,  and  that,  agreeably  'to  the  laws  and  usages  of 
nations,  he  should  suffer  death.  He  was  accordingly  hung  on 
the  3d  of  October  at  Tappan,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  years. 
His  youth,  accomplishments,  and  manners  endeared  him  to 
all,  and  his  fate  was  deeply  regretted  on  both  sides  of  the  At 
lantic.  His  king  caused  a  mural  monument  to  be  erected  to 
his  memory  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  in  1831  his  remains 
were  taken  to  London,  where  they  have  since  rested  among 
those  of  many  heroes  and  poets  of  England.  Arnold  received 
intelligence  of  Andre's  capture  very  soon  after  that  occurrence, 
and  he  immediately  abandoned  everything,  and  fled  on  board 
the  Vulture,  which  took  him  to  New  York.  The  traitor,  al 
though  unsuccessful,  received  10,000  guineas  from  the  British 
treasury,  and  the  commission  of  a  brigadier  from  the  king.  He 
died  in  obscurity  in  London,  in  1801. 

Henry  Laurens,  late  president  of  congress,  while  on  his  pas 
sage  to  Holland,  to  which  country  he  had  been  appointed  minis 
ter  from  the  United  States,  was  captured  by  a  British  frigate 
off  Newfoundland.  He  was  taken  to  England,  where  he  was 
examined  by  the  privy  council,  and  committed  close  prisoner  to 
the  Tower,  on  an  accusation  of  high-treason.  He  remained 
there  a  prisoner  for  more  than  fourteen  months. 

The  first  regular  glass  factory  established  in  the  United 
States  was  erected  this  year  in  the  town  of  Temple,  New 
Hampshire.  The  works  were  operated  by  Hessians  and  Wai- 
deckers,  deserters  from  the  British  army. 

In  August,  the  first  buildings  on  the  site  of  Cincinnati  were 
erected.  They  were  two  block-houses,  built  by  a  detachment 
of  American  troops. 

Virginia  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  its  right  and  title  to 
the  vast  territory  lying  north  of  the  Ohio. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  was  founded  and  settled  by  about  six  hun 
dred  people,  who  emigrated  there  in  the  spring  of  this  year.  In 
May,  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  passed  an  act  incorporating  the 
town. 

1781  The  military  movements  of  the  year  were  confined  princi 
pally  to  the  Southern  States.  The  British  were  defeated  in  two 
important  and  several  minor  engagements  in  South  Carolina, 
which  closed  the  war  in  that  State.  In  Virginia  a  large  British 


48  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

army  surrendered,  which  decided  the  result  of  the  Revolution 
ary  war. 

The  principal  engagements  in  South  Carolina  were  at  the 
Cowpens  and  at  Eutaw  Springs.  At  the  former  place  up 
wards  of  three  hundred  of  the  British  were  killed  or  wounded, 
and  five  hundred  taken  prisoners.  A  large  amount  of  arms 
and  other  military  property  were  taken  by  the  Americans.  In 
the  battle  at  Eutaw  Springs,  the  British  lost,  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  prisoners,  upwards  of  eleven  hundred  men. 

Virginia  was  intended  by  the  British  commander-in-chief  to 
be  the  principal  seat  of  operations  in  his  plan  of  the  campaign 
for  this  year.  To  carry  out  that  object,  Lord  Cornwallis 
marched  northwardly  from  South  Carolina,  and  arrived  with 
his  army  at  Petersburg  on  the  29th  of  May.  Here  he  formed  a 
junction  with  the  British  troops  stationed  in  that  neighbor 
hood,  and  he  found  himself  in  command  of  an  army  number 
ing  upwards  of  seven  thousand  men.  The  British  fleet  stationed 
on  the  coast  was  intended  to  be  reinforced  by  their  navy  in  the 
West  Indies.  That  design  was  frustrated  by  the  arrival  in  the 
Chesapeake  of  a  French  fleet  of  twenty-eight  sail  of  the  line, 
commanded  by  Count  de  Grasse,  and  soon  afterwards  of  another 
squadron  from  Rhode  Island  under  Count  de  Barras.  In  Sep 
tember  Lord  Cornwallis  transferred  his  army  to  Yorktown,  and 
Gloucester  opposite,  and  strongly  fortified  those  places.  At 
this  time  the  American  forces  under  the  command  of  Lafayette, 
Steubcn,  and  Wayne  were  not  sufficient  to  attack  the  British 
in  their  new  position  with  any  prospect  of  success.  While  the 
operations  in  Virginia  were  in  that  condition,  French  troops 
under  Count  de  Rochambeau,  which  had  arrived  in  Rhode 
Island  from  France  in  the  preceding  year,  joined  General 
Washington  on  the  Hudson,  and  the  allied  armies,  eluding  the 
vigilance  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  at  New  York,  marched  to 
Virginia.  They  rendezvoused  at  Williamsburg,  twelve  miles 
above  Yorktown,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  September 
marched  in  two  divisions  by  separate  roads  to  invest  the  British. 
They  were  occupied  in  preparations  for  the  siege  until  the  9th 
of  October,  when  a  general  discharge  of  cannon  commenced 
upon  the  British  works.  Perceiving  his  peril,  Cornwallis  at 
tempted  to  escape  to  Gloucester,  and  thence  flee  northward  to 
New  York.  With  that  purpose  he  embarked  a  large  number 
of  his  troops  on  the  vessels  on  York  River,  when  a  fierce  tornado 
arose  and  made  the  passage  of  the  river  too  perilous  for  the 
consummation  of  that  plan.  Despairing  of  either  victory  or 
escape,  or  of  aid  from  the  navy  with  French  ships  of  war 
guarding  the  mouth  of  the  York,  Cornwallis  made  overtures  for 
capitulation.  The  arrangements  were  concluded,  and  on  the 
19th  of  October  the  articles  were  signed,  by  which  the  British 
forces  surrendered  prisoners  of  war.  The  army,  with  the 
artillery,  arms,  accoutrements,  military  chest  and  all  public 
stores,  were  surrendered  to  General  Washington,  the  ships  and 
seamen  to  the  Count  de  Grasse.  The  prisoners,  exclusive  of 
seamen,  amounted  to  7073. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  49 

Early  in  the  year,  Benedict  Arnold,  now  a  British  officer, 
with  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  made  a  descent  on  the  un 
protected  coasts  of  Virginia,  and  committed  extensive  ravages. 

While  the  allied  armies  were  advancing  to  the  siege  of 
Yorktown,  Arnold  conducted  an  expedition  against  New 
London,  in  Connecticut.  He  took  Fort  Trumbull,  and  Fort 
Griswold  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  Thames,  and  reduced  to 
ashes  the  town  of  New  London  and  the  stores  contained  in  it. 

On  the  1st  of  March  the  State  of  New  York  ceded  to  the 
United  States  all  its  lands  in  the  country  north  of  the  Ohio. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Vermont  was  issued  in 
February,  at  Westminster  under  the  name  of  The  Vermont 
Gazette  or  Green  Mountain  Post  Boy.  In  1783  the  paper  was 
removed  to  Windsor. 

The  first  bank  established  in  the  United  States  was  incorpo 
rated  by  Congress,  under  the  name  of  "  The  President,  Direc 
tors,  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  North  America."  Its  loca 
tion  was  at  Philadelphia. 

1782  The  capture  of  a  second  British  army  in  America  rendered 
the  war  unpopular  in  Great  Britain.     Commissioners  for  nego 
tiating  peace  were  appointed  by  both  nations,  and  on  the  30th 
of  November  they  agreed  on  provisional  articles,  which  were  to 
be  inserted  in  a  future  treaty  of  peace  to  be  finally  concluded 
between  the  parties  when  peace  should  take  place  between. 
Great  Britain  and  France. 

The  United  Provinces  of  Holland  acknowledged  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States  on  the  19th  of  April. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Brooklyn,  L.  I.,  was  issued 
on  the  8th  of  June,  and  called  The  Brooklyn  Hall  Super-Extra, 
Gazette. 

The  first  manufacture  of  fustians  and  jeans  in  this  country 
was  commenced  at  Philadelphia. 

1783  On  the  20th  of  January  an  agreement  was  entered  into  be 
tween  the  Ministers  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Great  Britain,  relative  to  a  ces 
sation  of  hostilities.     On  the  llth  of  April,  Congress  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  the  cessation  of  arms  on  land  and  sea, 
and  enjoined  its  observance.    The  definite  Treaty  of  Peace  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  was  signed  at  Paris 
on  the  3d  of  September.    At  the  same  time  a  treaty  was  con 
cluded  between  Great  Britain  and  Spain,  by  which  the  former 
nation  ceded  to  the  latter  East  and  West  Florida. 

The  independence  of  the  United  States  was  acknowledged 
by  Sweden  on  the  5th  of  February,  by  Denmark  on  the  25th  of 
February,  by  Spain  on  the  24th  of  March,  and  by  Russia  in 
July. 

A  ship  from  Massachusetts  arrived  at  Riga,  in  Russia,  on  the 
1st  of  June,  and  was  the  first  American  vessel  that  ever  visited 
any  Russian  port. 

Before  the  dissolution  of  the  army,  the  American  officers  in 
stituted  a  society,  denominated  "  The  Society  of  the  Cincinnati." 
Its  objects  were  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  the  Ameri- 


Y 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

can  revolution,  as  well  as  a  cordial  affection  among  die  officers, 
and  to  extend  acts  of  beneficence  to  those  officers  and  their 
families  whose  situation  might  require  assistance. 

Congress  issued  a  proclamation  on  the  18th  of  October,  that 
the  army  should  be  disbanded  on  the  3d  of  November. 

On  the  25th  of  November  the  British  army  evacuated  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  the  Americans  took  possession  of  the 
city  the  same  day. 

Charlestown,  the  capital  of  South  Carolina,  was  incorporated 
by  the  legislature  of  that  State  by  the  name  of  "The  City  of 
Charleston." 

"  The  American  Spelling  Book,"  by  Noah  Webster,  was  first 
published  this  year,  and  was  the  first  book  of  the  kind  printed 
in  America. 

The  lighting  of  the  streets  of  Baltimore  and  a  day  police  were 
established  by  the  town  authorities. 

1784  The  Legislature  of  Connecticut  passed  a  law  for  the  gradual 
abolition  of  slavery  in  that  State.    The  towns  of  Hartford,  New 
Haven,  New  London,  Norwich,  and  Middletown  were  incorpo 
rated  as  cities. 

The  second  bank  in  the  United  States  went  into  operation  in 
Boston,  and  was  called  the  Massachusetts  Bank. 

The  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  instituted  by  the  colo 
nial  government,  was  continued  a  corporation  by  the  State  legis 
lature,  with  enlarged  privileges. 

The  Empress  of  China,  of  Boston,  sailed  from  New  York  for 
Canton  in  February,  and  returned  in  the  next  year.  This  was 
the  first  voyage  from  the  United  States  to  China. 

The  census  taken  in  Massachusetts  showed  a  population  of 
353,133  whites  and  4377  negroes. 

The  territory  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio  was  provided  with 
a  temporary  government  by  act  of  congress. 

The  first  daily  newspaper  published  in  America  was  estab 
lished  at  Philadelphia.  It  was  until  this  time  issued  as  a 
weekly  under  the  title  of  The  Pennsylvania  Packet  or  the  General 
Advertiser. 

The  Massachusetts  Centinel  and  tJie  Republican  Journal  issued 
its  first  number  at  Boston  on  the  24th  of  March.  In  the  year 
1840  it  was  merged  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

Pittsburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  was  laid  out  into  town  lots  and 
its  settlement  commenced.  The  town  of  Hudson,  in  New  York, 
was  founded,  and  Burlington  and  New  Brunswick,  in  New 
Jersey,  incorporated  as  cities. 

1785  An  organ  was  set  up  in  the  First  Church  in  Boston.     This 
was  the  first  instance  of  the  introduction  of  instrumental  music 
into  a  Congregational  church  in  New  England. 

Harrisburg,  in  Pennsylvania,  was  laid  out  into  town  lots. 

The  first  daily  newspaper  published  in  New  York,  and  the 
second  in  this  country,,  was  issued  this  year  under  the  name  of 
The  New  York  Daily  Advertiser. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Maine  was  issued  on  the 
first  of  January,  and  called  The  Falmouth  Gazette. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  51 

The  introduction  of  the  Lombardy  poplar  into  America  was 
made  this  year  by  Michaux,  who  was  sent  over  by  the  King  of 
France  to  collect  trees  and  shrubs  for  his  establishment  at  Ram  - 
bouillet. 

The  regular  exportation  of  cotton  first  commenced  this  year ; 
one  bag  was  sent  from  Charleston  to  Liverpool,  twelve  from 
Philadelphia,  and  one  from  New  York. 

The  first  Philadelphia  Directory  was  issued,  and  was  the  first 
city  directory  published  in  the  United  States. 

1786  An  insurrection  broke  out  in  Massachusetts,  and  Daniel  Shays, 
a  captain  in  the  Revolution,  was  chosen  leader  of  the  insurgents. 
They  complained  that  the  governor's  salary  was  too  high,  the 
senate  aristocratic,  the  lawyers  extortionate,  and  taxes  too  bur 
densome  to  bear,  and  they  demanded  an  issue  of  paper  money. 
Bodies  of  armed  men  interrupted  the  sessions  of  the  courts  in 
a  number  of  counties,  and  in  December,  Shays,  with  a  large 
force,  prevented  the  holding  of  courts  at  Worcester  and  Spring 
field.      In  the  following  month  he  marched  with  about  two 
thousand  men  to  capture  the  arsenal  at  Springfield,  but  being 
fired  upon  by  the  militia  the  insurgents  fled,  the  leaders  making 
their  way  to  New  Hampshire.     Shays  remained  in  Vermont 
about  a  year  and  was  afterwards  pardoned. 

Portland,  in  Maine,  was  incorporated.  The  place  was  here 
tofore  known  as  Falmouth. 

The  State  of  New  York  contained  at  this  time  220,000  white 
population  and  about  19,000  negroes. 

The  first  Roman  Catholic  church  erected  in  New  York  was 
built  this  year  on  Barclay  Street,  and  called  St.  Peter's. 

The  first  Sunday  School  in  the  United  States  was  opened  by 
Bishop  Asbury,  of  Virginia. 

The  first  newspaper  published  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was 
issued  on  the  29th  of  July  at  Pittsburg,  and  called  The  Pitts- 
burg  Gazette. 

That  part  of  the  country  known  subsequently  as  Tennessee 
formed  at  this  period  a  part  of  North  Carolina.  The  inhabit 
ants  of  that  section  being  dissatisfied  with  the  government,  met 
in  convention  at  Jonesborough,  and  voted  to  secede  from  North 
Carolina  and  form  an  independent  State,  to  which  they  gave 
the  name  of  Falkland.  A  violent  contest  soon  arose  between 
the  conflicting  authorities,  which  was  prevented  from  growing 
into  a  civil  war  only  by  the  interposition  of  the  United  States 
Government. 

1787  In  May,  delegates  from  all  the  States  excepting  Rhode  Island 
assembled  at  Philadelphia  to  adopt  a  more  perfect  and  stronger 
Union.     The  form  of  confederation  answered  the  purposes  of 
the  government  during  the  war  ;  but  no  sooner  had  that  period 
elapsed  than  the  total  inefficiency  of  the  federal  government  was 
perceived.     An  enormous  debt  had  been  contracted,  and  public 
credit  was  in  the  lowest  state  of  depreciation.     Congress  had 
devised  a  system  of  revenue,  with  a  provision  for  discharging 
the  existing  debts.     This  system  was  transmitted  to  the  several 
State  legislatures,  with  an  address  strongly  recommending  its 


52  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

adoption;  but  from  the  various  and  interfering  interests  of  the 
different  States  it  was  but  partially  adopted,  and  never  put  into 
operation.  In  some  States  the  treaties  with  foreign  powers 
were  disregarded  or  openly  violated.  Other  defects  in  the  ex 
isting  constitution  were  clearly  evident.  In  this  state  of  affairs 
it  was  the  opinion  of  the  wisest  citizens  that  an  energetic  sys 
tem  of  national  government  only  could  revive  the  ruined  state 
of  commerce,  restore  public  and  private  credit,  give  a  national 
character  to  the  States,  secure  the  faith  of  public  treaties,  and 
prevent  the  evils  of  anarchy  and  civil  war.  On  the  17th  of  Sep 
tember  the  delegates  unanimously  agreed  on  a  Federal  Consti 
tution,  and  the  articles  soon  afterward  were  transmitted  to  the 
legislatures  of  the  several  States,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
submitted  to  conventions  of  the  people  for  ratification.  There 
was  a  struggle  in  the  convention  touching  the  basis  of  rep 
resentation  in  congress,  in  which  the  question  of  slavery  min- 
§led.  It  originated  in  a  strife  between  the  larger  and  smaller 
tates,  the  latter  contending  for  an  equal  and  the  former  for  a 
proportional  representation.  The  resolution,  however,  was 
passed,  incorporating  into  the  Constitution  a  provision  that  the 
base  of  representation  should  be  on  free  inhabitants  and  three 
fifths  of  all  other  persons.  By  this  vote  the  half  a  million  of  slaves 
in  the  Southern  States  and  their  increase  in  coming  years  were 
to  be  counted  in  the  basis  of  representation  in  the  national  House 
of  Representatives  and  in  the  Electoral  College,  so  that  an 
owner  of  slaves  would  be  entitled  not  only  to  his  own  vote,  but 
three  votes  more  for  every  five  slaves  he  possessed.  This  meas 
ure  placed  large  powers  in  the  hands  of  the  slaveholding  class 
in  the  subsequent  political  struggles  in  national  politics.  The 
convention  also  passed  a  resolution  providing  for  the  rendition 
of  slaves  escaping  from  one  State  into  another. 

Connecticut  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  its  lands  west  of 
Pennsylvania,  excepting  about  4,000,000  acres.  Of  this 
reserve,  500,000  acres  were  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  New 
London,  Fairfield,  and  Norwalk,  whose  property  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  British  troops  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 

Congress  passed  an  act  for  establishing  a  government  for  the 
vast  territory  bounded  by  the  lakes,  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers.  It  was  provided  in  the 
ordinance  that  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude,  except  in  pun 
ishment  of  crimes,  should  be  forever  prohibited  in  that  district. 

The  State  of  South  Carolina  passed  an  act  for  the  cession  of 
its  western  territory  to  the  United  States. 

Columbia  College  of  New  York  was  incorporated,  and  the 
College  of  Physicians  at  Philadelphia  was  founded. 

About  one  hundred  houses  were  consumed  by  fire  in  Boston, 
on  the  24th  of  April. 

At  this  period  Baltimore  contained  1959  dwelling-houses, 
nine  churches,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty -four  warehouses  and 
stores. 

The  first  newspaper  issued  in  Kentucky  was  published  in 
August  at  Lexington,  under  the  title  of  The  Lexington  Gazette. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  53 

The  first  cotton-mill  in  the  United  States  went  into  operation 
this  year  at  Beverly,  Mass.  From  its  imperfect  machinery  it 
soon  closed.  It  manufactured  corduroys  and  bed-ticks. 

The  settlement  of  Binghamton  and  of  Syracuse,  in  New 
York,  was  commenced.  The  manufacture  of  salt  was  com 
menced  about  this  time  near  Syracuse. 

1788  The  new  Federal  Constitution  proposed  the  last  year  to  the 
people  of  the  United   States  by  the  several  conventions  was 
adopted  in  all  the  States,  excepting  Rhode  Island  and  North 
Carolina. 

Mass  was  performed  for  the  first  time  in  Boston. 

John  Greenwood,  a  dentist,  established  an  office  in  New 
York.  This  was  the  first  one  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States. 

The  settlement  of  Marietta  was  commenced  on  the  7th  of 
April.  This  was  the  first  permanent  settlement  in  Ohio. 

In  this  and  the  preceding  year,  twenty  thousand  persons  emi 
grated  to  the  Northwestern  Territory. 

1789  The  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
assembled  at  New  York  on  the  4th  of  March.     Delegates  soon 
arrived  from  all  the  States,  excepting  Rhode  Island  and  North 
Carolina.     On  opening  the  votes  of  the  electors  chosen  by  the 
several  States,   it  was    ascertained  that  George  Washington 
was  unanimously  elected  President,  and  John  Adams,  hav 
ing  the  next  highest  number  of  votes,  Vice-President.     On 
the  23d  of  April,  the  President-elect  arrived  at  New  York, 
where  he  was  received  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  and  con 
ducted  with  military  honors  through  an  immense  concourse  of 
people  to  the  apartments  provided  for  him.     Here  he  received 
the  salutations  of  foreign  ministers,  public  bodies,  and  private 
citizens  of  distinction.     On  the  30th  of  April  the  President  was 
inaugurated.     After  a  laborious  session,  Congress  adjourned  on 
the  29th  of  September,  to  meet  on  the  first  Monday  in  January. 
The  national  government  encountered  from  its  formation  a 
powerful  opposition.     The  friends  of  the  Constitution  were  de 
nominated  Federalists,  while  those  who  had  opposed  its  adop 
tion  were  called  Anti- Federalists.     In  the  first  congress,  there 
was  but  a  small  majority  of  Federalists,  and  these  were  in  favor 
of  the  measures  recommended  by  the  administration. 

In  November,  North  Carolina  adopted  the  Constitution,  and 
was  admitted  into  the  Union. 

The  first  Episcopal  convention  in  America  convened  at  Phil 
adelphia,  and  settled  a  constitution  for  the  "  Protestant  Epis 
copal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Carrol  of  Maryland  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  He  was  the  first  one  consecrated 
in  the  United  States. 

The  first  Roman  Catholic  church  in  New  England  was  founded 
in  Boston. 

The  seat  of  the  government  for  South  Carolina  was  removed 
from  Charleston  to  Columbia. 

Cincinnati  was  laid  out  as  a  town  in  the  beginning  of  the 


year ;  a  few  months  later,  a  log-cabin  was  erec 


>egmning  01  me 
ted,  and  the  set- 


54  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

tlement  of  the  town  commenced.    The  settlement  of  Knoxville, 
in  Tennessee,  was  commenced. 

The  first  successful  crop  of  Sea  Island  cotton  was  gathered 
in  South  Carolina. 

The  first  geography  of  the  United  States  was  published  by 
Jedediah  Morse. 

1790  Congress  passed  an  act  for  the  assumption  of  the  debts  of  the 
several  States,  incurred  in  the  prosecution  of  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  for  funding  this  national  debt.  At  the  same  time,  an 
act  was  passed  fixing  the  location  of  the  capital  of  the  United 
States  on  the  Potomac.  There  had  been  a  wrangle  among  the 
members  of  congress  relating  to  the  permanent  location  of  the 
national  capital ;  the  Southern  members  contending  for  the 
Potomac ;  those  from  the  North,  for  a  place  in  Pennsylvania, 
on  the  Susquehanna,  called  Wright's  Ferry.  At  the  same  time, 
there  was  a  disagreement  among  them  concerning  the  policy 
proposed  in  the  assumption  by  the  national  government  of  the 
several  State  debts  :  the  Southern  members  opposed  it ;  the 
Northern  advocated  it.  At  length,  a  compromise  was  effected, 
whereby  the  South  gained  the  capital,  and  the  North  assump 
tion.  The  removal  to  the  Potomac  was  designated  to  take 
place  in  the  year  1800  ;  in  the  mean  time,  the  seat  of  govern 
ment  was  to  be  established  at  Philadelphia.  Accordingly,  the 
transfer  to  that  city  from  New  York  was  made  in  the  autumn 
of  this  year. 

The  vast  tract  of  country  south  of  the  Ohio  was  organized 
under  a  territorial  government. 

The  District  of  Columbia,  by  act  of  congress  passed  on  the 
16th  of  July,  was  located  and  surveyed  for  the  seat  of  the  na 
tional  government.  About  sixty  square  miles  of  this  territory 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Potomac  was  ceded  to  the  United 
States  by  Maryland,  and  forty  square  miles  on  the  south  side 
of  that  river  by  Virginia.  This  latter  portion  was  reconveyed 
to  Virginia  in  1846. 

The  Salem  Gazette,  at  Salem,  Mass.,  made  its  first  appearance. 
It  succeeded  the  Essex.  Gazette,  established  in  the  year  1768. 

The  District  of  Kentucky,  at  this  time  a  part  of  Virginia, 
was  detached  from  that  State  by  consent,  and  made  application 
to  be  admitted  into  the  Union. 

The  State  of  Rhode  Island,  represented  in  a  convention  at 
Newport,  adopted  and  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  subsequently  admitted  into  the  Union. 

By  the  census,  the  population  of  the  United  States  at  this 
period  was  3,929,326,  of  which  number  695,655  were  slaves. 

Congress  passed  an  act  accepting  the  cession  by  North  Caro 
lina  to  the  United  States  of  its  western  territory.  This  cession 
was  subsequently  formed  into  the  State  of  Tennessee.  This 
cession  was  made  in  accordance  with  an  act  passed  by  the  legis 
lature  of  North  Carolina,  in  the  preceding  year,  which  provided 
the  condition,  that  no  regulation  made  or  to  be  made  by  Cong 
ress  should  tend  to  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  ceded  ter 
ritory. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  55- 

The  first  manufacture  in  this  country,  of  brooms  from  broom 
corn,  was  commenced  at  Philadelphia. 

The  first  voyage  of  an  American  vessel  around  the  world, 
was  commenced  by  the  ship  Columbia,  from  Boston,  on  the 
30th  of  September,  1787,  and  was  completed  this  year.  It  de 
parted  for  the  north-west  coast  of  America,  thence,  freighted 
with  furs,  sailed  to  China,  and  from  there  returned  home  by 
the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

On  the  5th  of  June  a  boat  with  twelve  oars,  propelled  by 
steam,  invented  by  John  Fitch,  made  her  first  trip  as  a  passen 
ger  and  freight  boat  on  the  Delaware,  between  Philadelphia 
and  Trenton,  running  eighty  miles  within  thirteen  hours  against 
the  tide  and  a  strong  wind.  This  was  the  most  successful 
experiment  of  a  steamboat  in  this  or  any  country.  The 
boat  continued  to  perform  regularly  advertised  trips  for  four 
months,  running  about  three  thousand  miles  during  the  season. 
1791  Vermont  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  18th  of  Febru 
ary. 

Congress  appointed  General  St.  Clair  Governor  of  the 
Northwestern  Territory,  and  instructed  him  to  destroy  the  In 
dian  villages  on  the  Miami  River,  to  expel  the  savages  from 
that  district,  and  to  connect  that  part  of  the  country  with  the 
Ohio  by  a  chain  of  military  posts.  In  commencing  to  carry 
out  those  instructions  St.  Clair  met  Tvith  an  engagement  with 
the  Indians  in  November,  in  which  he  was  defeated,  with  a  loss 
of  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

The  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  passed  an  act  to  lay  out  a 
new  town  to  be  called  Raleigh,  for  the  seat  of  the  government. 

The  United  States  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  ten  millions  of 
dollars,  went  into  operation  at  Philadelphia.  It  was  chartered 
on  the  25th  of  February  by  congress  to  aid  the  operations  of 
the  government.  By  its  charter  it  was  established  for  twenty 
years,  with  the  privilege  of  creating  branches  in  any  of  the 
States.  The  national  government  was  authorized  to  subscribe 
for  two  millions  of  the  stock,  and  private  individuals  the  re 
mainder. 

The  first  successful  cotton  factory  established  in  America 
went  into  operation  by  Samuel  Slater  at  Pawtucket,  in  Rhode 
Island. 

The  nrst  bank  established  in  New  York  was  incorporated 
under  the  title  of  the  Bank  of  New  York. 

The  first  American  whaling-ship  to  the  Pacific  sailed  from 
Nantucket  this  year. 

The  first  daily  newspaper  published  in  Baltimore  was  issued 
on  the  24th  of  October,  and  called  the  Baltimore  Daily  Re 
pository.  The  first  newspaper  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  appeared  un 
der  the  name  of  the  Oracle  of  Dauphin. 

The  first  furnace  in  Kentucky  was  erected  by  government 
troops  on  Slate  Creek,  a  branch  of  the  Licking  River.  It  was 
worked  until  the  year  1838. 

The  existence  of  anthracite  coal,  in  Carbon  and  the  adjacent 
counties  in  Pennsylvania,  was  accidentally  discovered  this  year 


56  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

by  a  hunter  named  Ginther.  Ginther  took  a  piece  to  Colonel 
Jacob  Weiss,  who  lived  near  the  site  of  Mauch  Chunk,  and  he 
carried  the  specimen  to  Philadelphia,  where,  after  having  been 
examined  by  several  mineralogists,  it  finally  came  into  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Charles  Cist,  a  printer.  Cist  was  the  first  person  who 
appreciated  its  merit,  and  insisted  that  arrangements  should  be 
immediately  undertaken  to  secure  the  lands  where  the  discov 
ery  was  made.  Accordingly,  Weiss  obtained  several  thousands 
of  acres  from  the  Land  Office,  and  formed  an  association  to  de 
velop  the  mines,  under  the  name  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  Mine 
Company,  composed  of  several  enterprising  and  wealthy  capi 
talists.  The  company,  however,  failed  to  find  purchasers  for 
the  coal,  and  suspended  operations,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
year  1820  that  success  was  attained. 

1792  There  were  two  great  political  parties  at  this  tune,  of  about 
equal  strength,  and  which  united  only  on  the  name  of  Wash 
ington.  The  Federalists  supported  the  measures  of  the  gov 
ernment;  the  Anti- Federalists,  to  whom  was  now  given  the 
name  of  Republicans,  opposed  the  financial  measures  of  Ham 
ilton  and  other  acts  of  the  administration.  The  French  Revo 
lution  also  had  an  important  influence  on  the  politics  of  the 
United  States  at  this  time.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  Republican 
friends  sympathized  with  the  French  nation  in  their  struggles 
for  liberty  and  their  contests  with  other  nations,  while  Hamil 
ton  and  his  friends,  of  the  Federal  party,  considered  it  important 
to  the  interests  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  friendly  rela 
tions  with  Great  Britain,  which  power  was  at  this  period  at  war 
with  France,  and  they  were  unwilling  to  sacrifice  either  the 
peace  or  the  interests  of  the  nation  to  any  sympathies  they 
might  have  in  favor  of  the  revolutionists  of  France.  In  this 
state  of  public  opinion  the  Presidential  election  of  this  year 
took  place.  Notwithstanding  the  high  party  feeling  among 
the  people,  Washington  received  the  unanimous  votes  of  the 
electors  to  serve  a  second  term  as  President.  John  Adams  re 
ceived  seventy -seven  votes,  and  was  re-elected  Vice-President. 
George  Clinton,  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party,  re 
ceived  fifty  votes,  and  five  votes  were  given  to  other  persons. 
The  total  number  of  electors  at  this  time  was  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two. 

In  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congress  a  mint  was  established 
in  Philadelphia.  Bullion  was  to  be  assayed  and  coined  free  or 
exchanged  for  coin  at  a  reduction  of  one  half  per  cent.  Horse 
power  was  used  for  coining  until  1815,  when  a  steam-engine 
was  procured.  The  mint  was  ready  for  operation  on  the  7th  of 
September. 

Kentucky  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  1st  of  June. 

The  Stmth  Carolina  Bank,  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
Bank  of  New  Hampshire,  and  the  Bank  of  Albany  were  estab 
lished.  The  latter  bank  was  the  second  one  founded  in  the 
State  of  New  York.  The  Union  Bank  of  Boston  received  a 
charter. 

The  Columbia  River,  in  Oregon,  was  discovered  and  entered 


HISTOBY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  57 

by  Captain  Gray  on  the  7th  of  May;  and  he  gave  it  the  name  of 
his  ship,  which  name  has  since  been  retained. 

Congress  passed  an  act  fixing  the  rates  for  postage,  which 
rates  were  not  changed  until  the  year  1815.  The  rate  for 
single  letters  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  was  six  and  one 
quarter  cents;  beyond  that  the  rate  increased  with  the  distance. 
1793  George  Washington  and  John  Adams  were  inaugurated  for 
a  second  term  of  office  as  President  and  Vice-President,  respec 
tively. 

In  April  Citizen  Genet  arrived  in  this  country  as  minister 
from  the  French  Republic.  It  having  been  expected  in  France 
that  the  United  States  would  engage  on  its  side  against  Eng 
land  and  other  nations,  Genet,  on  his  arrival,  issued  commis 
sions  to  vessels  of  war  to  sail  from  American  ports  and  cruise 
against  the  enemies  of  France.  Whereupon  the  President  is 
sued  a  proclamation,  declaring  the  policy  of  this  government  to 
be  that  of  pursuing  a  conduct  of  friendship  and  impartiality 
toward  the  belligerent  powers;  and  that  whosoever  of  the  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  should  render  himself  liable  to  pun 
ishment  or  forfeiture  under  the  law  of  nations,  by  committing, 
aiding,  or  abetting  hostilities  against  any  of  the  said  powers,  or 
by  carrying  to  any  of  them  those  articles  which  were  deemed 
contraband  by  the  modern  usage  of  nations,  would  not  receive 
the  protection  of  the  United  States  against  such  forfeiture  and 
punishment.  The  President  also  gave  instructions  that  prose 
cutions  would  be  instituted  against  all  persons  who  should, 
within  the  cognizance  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  vio 
late  the  laws  of  nations  with  respect  to  the  powers  at  war, 
or  any  of  them.  Mr.  Genet,  after  this,  threatened  to  ap 
peal  to  the  people;  but  finally,  after  many  controversies  with 
him,  the  President  demanded  his  recall  by  the  French  Govern 
ment,  which  demand  was  acceded  to.  Genet  is  said  to  have  in 
troduced  into  this  country  the  idea  of  "democratic  societies," 
in  imitation  of  the  Jacobin  clubs  of  Paris.  On  the  30th  of 
May  one  was  instituted  at  Philadelphia.  Others  were  formed 
in  other  cities,  and  from  their  name  the  term  Democrat  first 
came  to  be  used  in  the  politics  of  this  country. 

Congress  passed  an  act  by  which  slave-masters  and  their 
agents  were  given  summary  power  to  seize,  hold,  and  return  to 
slavery  their  fugitive  bondsmen  escaping  from  one  State  into 
another. 

The  yellow-fever  devastated  Philadelphia,  and  more  than 
one  half  the  houses  in  the  city  were  deserted  by  people  who 
fled  the  place. 

The  first  printing-press  in  Tennessee  was  set  up  at  Knoxville, 
and  the  first  newspaper  issued  called  the  Knoxville  Gazette. 

The  first  newspaper  published  north  of  the  Ohio  «vas  issued 
at  Cincinnati  on  the  9th  of  November,  and  called  The  Sentinel 
of  the  Northwestern  Territory. 

The  first  Sunday-school  opened  in  New  England  was  estab 
lished  at  Pawtucket  by  Samuel  Slater. 

This  year  is  marked  by  the  invention  by  Eli  Whitney  of  the 


58  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

cotton-gin.  Up  to  this  time  the  cleaning  of  cotton  from  the 
seed  was  done  by  hand,  one  laborer  accomplishing  about  six 
pounds  a  day.  By  this  invention  about  one  thousand  pounds 
of  cotton  could  be  cleaned  in  the  same  time. 

The  city  of  Washington  was  founded,  and  the  corner-stone 
of  the  Capitol  laid  by  President  Washington,  on  the  18th  of 
September. 

The  first  mill  in  the  United  States  for  the  manufacture  of 
cotton-yarns  wi  -  erected  by  Samuel  Slater  at  North  Provi 
dence. 

The  first  manufacture  of  clocks  as  a  business  in  America  was 
started  by  Eli  Terry,  at  Plymouth,  Conn. 

1794  At  this  time  the  western  forts  on  Lake  Erie  were  still  occu 
pied  by  the  British,  contrary  to  the  treaty  of  1783.  American 
vessels  were  seized  by  vessels  of  that  nation  on  their  way  to 
Trench  ports  and  American  seamen  were  impressed.  In  view 
of  those  facts,  the  President,  after  many  remonstrances  with  the 
British  Government,  fearing  that  the  United  States  might  get 
involved  in  war  with  England,  sent  John  Jay  as  a  special  envoy 
to  London,  to  endeavor  to  avert  that  calamity  by  negotiation. 
In  November  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain  was  signed,  and  was 
afterward  ratified  by  the  United  States  Senate.  As  this  treaty 
was  considered  favorable  to  Great  Britain,  the  publication  of  it 
in  this  country  tended  to  heighten  the  asperity  of  political  par 
ties,  and  to  increase  the  feelings  of  hostility  toward  England 
which  were  entertained  by  the  opposition  to  the  administration. 

An  insurrection  broke  out  in  Pennsylvania  caused  by  the  pas 
sage  by  congress  of  acts  imposing  duties  upon  spirits  distilled, 
and  upon  stills.  From  the  commencement  of  the  operation  of 
those  laws,  combinations  of  distillers  were  formed  in  the  four 
western  counties  of  Pennsylvania  to  defeat  them,  and  violence 
was  repeatedly  committed.  In  July  about  one  hundred  armed 
men  attacked  the  house  of  an  inspector  of  the  revenue  and 
wounded  several  persons.  They  seized  the  marshal  of  that 
district,  and  compelled  him  to  enter  into  stipulations  to  forbear 
the  execution  of  his  office.  Both  the  inspector  and  the  marshal 
were  obliged  to  flee  from  that  part  of  the  country.  These  and 
many  other  outrages  induced  President  Washington  to  issue  a 
proclamation  commanding  the  insurgents  to  disperse.  In  Octo 
ber  the  President  proceeded  to  Bedford  at  the  head  of  a  body 
of  militia,  where  he  gave  out  instructions  to  Governor  Lee  of 
Maryland,  whom  he  appointed  to  command  the  forces  for  the 
suppression  of  the  rebellion,  now  supported  by  several  thousand 
men.  Governor  Lee  with  fifteen  thousand  troops  marched  into 
Pennsylvania,  and  compelled  the  insurgents  to  lay  down  their 
arms  and  solicit  the  clemency  of  the  government. 

General  St.  Clair  having  resigned  the  command  of  the  army 
since  his  defeat,  General  Wayne  wras  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
On  the  20th  of  August  General  Wayne  had  a  battle  with  a  large 
body  of  Indians  at  the  rapids  of  the  Miami,  in  which  he  defeated 
them;  he  then  desolated  their  country,  and  erected  forts  in  the 
heart  of  their  settlements. 


HISTOKY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  59 

The  foreign  and  domestic  debts  of  the  United  States  on  the 
1st  of  January  were  a  little  more  than  seventy-four  millions  of 
•dollars.  As  an  offset,  there  were  about  twenty-six  millions  appli 
cable  to  the  sinking-fund. 

The  Insurance  Company  of  North  America,  in  Philadelphia, 
and  the  Insurance  Company  of  Pennsylvania,  were  incorpo 
rated. 

The  first  turnpike  road  in  the  United  States  was  completed 
by  a  private  company,  and  connected  Lancaster  with  Philadel 
phia,  a  distance  of  sixty-two  miles. 

The  first  cotton  sewing-thread  manufactured  in  the  United 
States  was  made  this  year  at  Pawtucket. 

Samuel  Morey  built  a  steamboat  with  a  stern-wheel,  and  navi 
gated  it  from  Hartford  to  New  York. 

Dayton,  in  Ohio,  was  laid  out  into  a  town  and  the  lots  dis 
posed  of  by  lottery. 

The  first  newspaper  published  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  is 
sued  at  New  Orleans  under  the  name  of  The  Moniteur. 

The  first  theatre  established  in  Boston  was  opened  on  the  4th 
of  February,  under  the  name  of  The  Federal  Street  Theatre. 
The  law  forbidding  theatrical  performances  had  been  repealed 
in  the  preceding  year. 

By  an  act  of  congress  the  addition  of  two  stars  and  two  stripes 
was  made  to  the  national  flag. 

On  the  27th  of  March  congress  authorized  the  construction 
of  six  frigates  as  the  foundation  of  a  navy.  The  vessels  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  were  disposed  of  at  the  end  of  that  con 
test. 

1795  The  reserve  lands  belonging  to  the  State  of  Connecticut  were 
sold,  for  twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  proceeds  of 
the  sale  were  appropriated  for  the  support  of  schools  in  the 
State. 

The  exports  of  the  United  States  for  this  year  amounted  to 
more  than  forty-seven  millions  of  dollars. 

The  Massachusetts  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  Boston  was 
incorporated. 

The  yellow-fever  attacked  the  city  of  New  York,  and  more 
than  seven  hundred  persons  died  from  it. 

The  first  newspaper  established  in  the  United  States  exclu 
sively  for  commercial  topics  was  issued  at  Boston  on  the  5th  of 
September,  under  the  title  of  The  Boston  Prices- Current  and 
Marine  Intelligencer,  Commercial  and  Mercantile. 

1796  The  third  presidential  election  took  place  this  year.     Wash 
ington  was  earnestly  solicited  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election, 
but  he  positively  declined.     John  Adams  and  Thomas  Pinck- 
ney  were  supported  by  the  Federalists  as  President  and  Vice- 
President.      The  Republicans  were  unanimously  in  favor  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  for  President,  but  were  not  united  on  the 
subject  of  Vice-President.     At  the  election,  of  the  electoral  votes 
John  Adams  received  71;  Thomas  Jefferson,  68;  Thomas  Pinck- 
ney,  59;  Aaron  Burr,  30;  Samuel  Adams,  15;  Oliver  Ellsworth, 
11;   George  Clinton,  7;  John  Jay,  5;  James  Iredell,  3;  George 


60  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Washington,  2;  J.  Henry,  2;  S.  Johnson,  2;  and  Charles  C, 
Pinckney,  1.  By  the  constitution  as  it  stood  at  this  period,  the 
person  receiving  the  highest  number  of  electoral  votes  was 
elected  President,  the  next  highest  Vice-President,  Accordingly 
John  Adams  was  the  successful  candidate  for  President,  and 
Thomas  Jefferson  became  the  Vice-President  elect. 

Tennessee  was  formed  under  a  State  government  and  admit 
ted  into  the  Union.  Knoxville  was  made  the  capital  until  the 
year  1802. 

The  census  of  Albany  showed  a  population  of  6021. 

The  first  Methodist  Church  established  in  Boston  was  opened 
this  year. 

On  the  20th  of  June  a  conflagration  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  con 
sumed  three  hundred  houses  ;  and  one  at  Savannah  on  the  25th 
of  November  destroyed  three  hundred  and  fifty. 

There  was  a  large  emigration  to  Ohio  of  people  from  the  East 
ern  States.  At  this  period  Cincinnati  contained  about  six  hun 
dred  inhabitants. 

At  this  time  there  were  four  daily  stages  between  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  and  one  between  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore. 

The  first  successful  manufacture  of  sugar  from  cane  was 
made  at  a  plantation  a  few  miles  above  New  Orleans. 

Cleveland,  in  Ohio,  was  founded,  and  Baltimore  incorpora 
ted  with  a  city  charier.  The  first  directory  in  Baltimore  was 
published. 

A  conflagration  in  Savannah  destroyed  property  valued  at  one 
million  of  dollars. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Washington  was  issued  on 
the  llth  of  June,  and  called  The  Washington  Gazette. 

The  first  daily  newspaper  established  in  Boston  appeared  on 
the  6th  of  October,  under  the  name  of  The  Polar  Star  and-Bos- 
ion  Daily  Advertiser. 

The  first  manufacture  of  morocco  leather  in  the  United  States 
was  started  at  Lynn,  Mass. 

1797  John  Adams  was  inaugurated  President,  and  Thomas  Jeffer 
son  took  the  oath  of  office  as  Vice-President,  on  the  4th  of  March. 

There  were  at  this  period  four  hundred  and  eighty  post-offices 
in  the  United  States. 

Detroit  at  this  time  contained  three  hundred  houses. 

The  first  American  vessel  on  Lake  Erie  was  launched  near 
Erie,  Pa. 

Western  New  York  received  a  large  emigration  from  the  East 
this  year. 

The  introduction  of  cast-iron  ploughs  commenced  at  this  time, 
and  soon  superseded  wooden  ploughs,  which  were  heretofore  ex 
clusively  used.  At  first  there  was  a  prejudice  against  the  new 
plough  it  being  stated  that  cast-iron  poisoned  the  land  and  spoiled 
the  crop. 

The  first  scientific  periodical  in  America  was  established  in 
New  York,  and  called  The  Medical  Repository. 

1798  Congress  passed  an  act  in  March  establishing  the  Mississippi 
Territory. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  61 

In  May,  Harper's  Ferry,  in  Virginia,  was  designated  as  the 
site  for  a  government  armory  and  manufactory. 

"Hail  Columbia"  made  its  first  appearance  and  was  a  great 
success.  It  was  composed  by  Joseph  Hopkinson,  of  Philadel 
phia,  and  was  adapted  to  the  air  called  "The  President's 
March." 

The  yellow-fever  raged  with  violence  in  Philadelphia  and 
New  York.  In  the  first  3645  persons  died  of  the  disease ;  in 
the  last  2086.  It  appeared  as  an  epidemic  in  Boston  for  the 
first  time,  where  145  died  of  it. 

The  new  State-House  in  Boston  was  completed. 

The  manufacture  of  straw-braid  for  hats  and  bonnets  was 
originated  at  this  time  in  Dedham,  Mass. 

The  first  American  vessel  on  Lake  Ontario  was  launched  at 
Hanford's  Landing,  near  Rochester. 

1799  Although  there  was  no  declaration  of  war  either  on  the  part 
of  France  or  the  United  States,  hostilities  actually  commenced 
on  the  ocean  between  the  two  nations.    The  United  States  fri 
gate  Constellation,  of  thirty-eight  guns,  on  the  9th  of  February 
fell  in  with  and  captured  the  French  frigate  L'Insurgente,  of 
forty  guns.   This  action  took  place  in  the  West  India  seas,  and 
lasted  about  an  hour. 

The  American  navy  consisted  at  this  period  of  forty-two  ves 
sels,  carrying  nine  hundred  and  fifty  guns. 

The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  established  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment  at  Lancaster. 

1800  The  north  wing  of  the  Capitol  was  finished  this  year,  and 
the  seat  of  government  for  the  United  States  was  removed  to 
Washington.     Congress  met  there  for  the  first  time  on  the  22d 
of  November. 

A  treaty  was  concluded  between  Spain  and  France,  by  which 
the  sovereignty  and  property  of  Louisiana  were  conveyed  to 
France. 

The  Mississippi  Territory  was  organized;  and  Indiana  Terri 
tory  formed,  with  St.  Vincennes  as  its  capital. 

By  the  second  census  the  population  of  the  United  States  was 
found  to  be  5,305,482,  of  whom  896,849  were  slaves.  The 
population  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  60,489  ;  of  Philadel 
phia,  about  40,000  ;  Baltimore,  23,971 ;  Boston,  24,937  ;  Wash 
ington,  3210  ;  Providence,  7614  ;  and  Charleston,  18,712. 

The  first  Roman  Catholic  church  in  Philadelphia  was  erected. 

More  than  one  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  of  Baltimore 
died  from  the  yellow-fever. 

The  United  States  frigate  Constellation  met  the  French 
frigate  Le Vengeance  at  sea  on  the  1st  of  February,  and  in  an 
action  which  took  place  for  five  hours,  silenced  the  French 
ship.  A  squall  enabled  her  to  escape,  with  the  loss  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  men  killed  and  wounded. 

At  the  presidential  election  thisyear,the  Republican  candidates 
were  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  received  seventy -three  electoral 
votes  ;  and  Aaron  Burr,  who  received  the  same  number.  The 
Federalists  gave  John  Adams  sixty -five  votes,  Charles  C.  Pinck- 


62  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.       . 

ney  sixty-four,  and  John  Jay  one.  The  votes  for  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  and  Mr.  Burr  being  equal,  by  the  terms  of  the  Constitution 
which  prevailed  at  this  period,  there  was  no  choice,  and  the 
election  was  thrown  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  be 
decided  which  should  be  President,  Jefferson  or  Burr.  After 
a  contest  of  seven  days,  on  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  Thomas 
Jefferson  was  elected  President,  and  Aaron  Burr  was  made 
Vice-President.  The  name  of  the  Republican  party  now  began 
to  be  changed  to  the  Democratic. 

Water  was  first  introduced  into  Boston,  by  a  private  corpo 
ration,  from  Jamaica  Pond,  about  eight  miles  distant. 

1801  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  commenced  their  terms  of 
office  as  President  and  Vice-President,  respectively,  on  the  4th 
of  March. 

The  President  despatched  a  small  squadron  to  the  Mediter 
ranean,  to  protect  American  commerce  from  the  depredations  of 
the  cruisers  of  Tripoli. 

The  exports  this  year  from  South  Carolina  were  65,000 
barrels  of  rice ;  8,000,000  Ibs.  of  cotton  ;  8,500  barrels  of 
indigo,  and  5,996  hogsheads  of  tobacco. 

There  were  at  this  time  two  hundred  newspapers  published 
in  the  United  States,  of  which  number  seventeen  were  dailies. 

The  compound  blowpipe  was  invented  by  Professor  Robert 
Hare  of  Philadelphia. 

Congress  established  a  navy-yard  at  Brooklyn,  L.  I. 

Buffalo  was  laid  out  into  town-lots.  There  were  at  that 
place  at  this  time  one  tavern,  five  dwellings,  and  one  store,  all 
built  of  logs. 

Philadelphia  commenced,  on  the  27th  of  June,  to  be  supplied 
with  water  conveyed  through  pipes  laid  in  the  streets. 

The  Evening  Post  issued  its  first  number,  at  New  York,  on 
the  16th  of  November.  It  was  edited  by  William  Coleman,  and 
supported  the  Federal  party. 

The  pillory  was  used  for  the  last  time  in  Boston  on  the  22d 
of  November. 

1802  Ohio  was  authorized  by  congress  to  be  erected  into  a  State, 
and  admitted  into  the  Union.  The  admission  was  consummated 
the  next  year.    The  number  of  its  white  inhabitants  was  esti 
mated  at  about  75,000. 

Georgia  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  her  western  territory 
upon  condition  that  congress  should  not  prohibit  slavery  in 
tfcat  district. 

A  manufactory  of  sheet-copper  was  started  in  Massachusetts, 
which  was  the  only  one  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States. 

Congress  established  a  military  academy  at  West  Point. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Mississippi  was  issued  at 
Natchez,  and  called  The  Natchez  Gazette. 

1803  The  United  States  purchased  from  France  all  of  Louisiana, 
for  the  sum  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.    This  purchase  em 
braced  all  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  east  of 
tbe  Rocky  Mountains,  and  from  the  Mexican  dominions  on  the 
south  to  Canada  on  the  north.    Governor  Claiborne,  of  Missis- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  63 

sippi  Territory,  and  General  Wilkinson  were  appointed  com 
missioners  by  congress  to  receive  formal  possession  of  the 
territory.  Upon  their  arrival  at  New  Orleans,  the  Commissary 
of  France,  acting  in  behalf  of  the  French  Government,  formally 
delivered  the  country  over  to  the  United  States  commissioners, 
and  vested  Governor  Claiborne  with  the  powers  before  exercised 
by  the  French  governor. 

Commodore  Preble,  commanding  an  American  fleet,  bom 
barded  the  town  and  forts  of  Tripoli,  on  the  Mediterranean.  The 
frigate  Philadelphia,  commanded  by  Captain  Bainbridge, 
struck  on  a  rock  in  the  harbor  of  Tripoli  on  the  81st  of  October, 
and  his  officers  and  crew,  numbering  three  hundred  men,  were 
taken  prisoners.  The  officers  were  well  treated,  but  the  men 
were  reduced  to  slavery. 

The  tribe  of  Kankasia  Indians  ceded  to  the  United  States  all 
the  territory  in  its  possession  extending  along  the  Mississippi 
River,  from  the  Illinois  to  and  up  the  Ohio. 

The  first  bank  in  Cincinnati  was  opened,  and  called  The 
Miami  Exporting  Company. 

The  first  cotton-mill  in  New  Hampshire  was  erected  at  New 
Ipswich. 

1804  A  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  ratified  by 
the  legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  several  States,  and  became 
a  part  of  the  Constitution.  This  amendment  concerned  the 
manner  of  electing  the  President  and  Vice-President  so  as  to 
designate  which  person  was  voted  for  as  President,  and  which 
as  Vice-President ;  instead  of  the  original  article  in  the  Consti 
tution  which  required  the  electors  to  vote  for  two  persons  for 
these  offices,  of  whom  the  one  who  had  the  highest  number  of 
votes  was  to  be  President,  and  the  next  highest,  Vice-President. 

In  the  presidential  election  this  year  the  Democratic  party 
nominated  Mr.  Jefferson  for  re-election  as  President,  and  George 
Clinton  as  Vice-President.  The  Federalists  nominated  Charles 
C.  Pinckney  for  President,  and  Rufus  King  for  Vice-President. 
The  Democratic  candidates  secured  all  the  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  electoral  votes,  excepting  fourteen. 

The  Legislature  of  New  Jersey  passed  an  act  on  the  15th  of 
February  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in  that  State.  It 
made  all  persons  free  that  should  be,born  after  the  fourth  day  of 
the  following  July.  The  children  of  slaves  to  become  free — 
males  at  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  females  at  twenty-one. 

Congress  passed  an  act  separating  the  district  purchased  from 
France  into  two  territories,  divided  by  a  line  drawn  along  the 
thirty-third  parallel  of  north  latitude.  That  on  the  south  of 
this  line  was  called  the  Territory  of  Orleans  ;  that  on  the  north 
The  District  of  Louisiana.  Orleans  contained  at  this  time 
about  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  more  than  one  half 
were  slaves.  The  principal  town  in  that  territory  was  New 
Orleans,  which  contained  a  population  of  about  eight  thousand. 
St.  Louis  was  the  chief  settlement  in  the  District  of  Louisiana. 

The  Delaware  Indians  ceded  to  the  United  States  their  title 
to  an  extensive  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi.  This  tract 


64  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

contained  all  the  country  between  the  Wabash  and  the  Ohio, 
south  of  and  including  the  road  from  the  Rapids  to  Vincennes. 

Tripoli  was  bombarded  a  second  time  in  August. 

About  this  time  Sunday-schools  began  to  be  established  in 
different  sections  of  the  country,  and  their  introduction  gradu 
ally  increased  from  this  period. 

Fort  Dearborn,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Chicago,  was 
established,  and  garrisoned  by  a  company  of  about  fifty  men. 

The  Middlesex  canal,  connecting  Boston  harbor  with  Concord 
River,  was  completed,  and  was  the  first  canal  in  the  United 
States  opened  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  mer 
chandise. 

A  conflagration  in  New  York  destroyed  property  valued  at 
two  millions  of  dollars. 

The  Richmond  Enquirer  issued  its  first  number  on  the  9th  of 
May,  at  Richmond,  Va. 

On  the  llth  of  July,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  Washington,  was  fatally  wounded  by  Aaron 
Burr,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  in  a  duel  fought  at 
Weehawken,  in  New  Jersey,  opposite  the  city  of  New  York. 
This  event  caused  intense  excitement  throughout  the  country, 
and  was  deeply  deplored. 

1805  Thomas  Jefferson  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  4th  of  March,  and  George  Clinton  took  the  oath  of 
office  as  Vice  President. 

Large  purchases  of  lands  were  made  from  different  tribes  of 
Indians  in  the  western  and  also  in  the  southern  territories. 

A  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  with  Tripoli  on  the  3d  of  June. 

Michigan  Territory  was  formed  by  act  of  congress  from  a 
portion  of  Indiana  on  the  llth  of  January. 

The  first  dry -goods  commission  house  established  in  the 
United  States  was  opened  at  Philadelphia,  for  the  sale  of  cot 
ton  yarns  and  threads  manufactured  in  Providence. 

The  first  cargo  of  ice  exported  from  this  country  was  shipped 
this  year  from  Boston  to  Martinique,  and  consisted  of  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty  tons. 

1806  England  being  at  war  with  France,  declared  the  whole  coast 
of  the  continent  of  Europe,  from  Brest  to  the  Elbe,  in  a  state  of 
blockade.      France  retaliated  by  declaring  the  British  isles 
under  blockade,  and  forbade  the  introduction  into  France  of 
the  products  of  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  whether  in  her 
owrn  ships  or  those  of  other  nations.     These  edicts  inflicted 
great  damage  upon  American  commerce,  which  before  their 
passage  had'  been  seriously  interrupted  by  acts  of  the  British 
Government.     At  last  great  feeling  was  excited  throughout  the 
country,  and  most  of  "the  principal  towns  memorialized  con 
gress  or  the  executive  on  the  subject.     The  continued  impress 
ment  of  American  seamen  afforded  a  further  cause  of  com 
plaint.      On  the  15th  of  April  congress  passed  an  act  prohi 
biting  the  importation  of  specific  articles  of  British  growth  or 
manufacture,  to  take  effect  on  the  llth  of  November. 

The  President  sent  an  expedition  consisting  of  twenty-eight 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  65 

men,  under  the  command  of  Captains  Lewis  and  Clarke,  in  the 
year  1804,  to  explore  the  Missouri,  and  to  find  the  best  com 
munication  from  that  river  to  the  Pacific,  and  they  returned 
this  year.  They  ascended  the  river  more  than  three  thousand 
miles,  traced  it  nearly  to  its  source,  crossed  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  and  descended  the  Columbia  River  to  the  ocean.  In  this 
and  the  following  year  Lieutenant  Pike  ascended  the  Missis 
sippi  to  its  source,  and  ascertained  the  geography  of  that  coun 
try,  which  was  not  heretofore  known. 

.1807  The  frigate  Chesapeake,  commanded  by  Commodore  Bar- 
ron,  sailing  from  Hampton  Roads  on  a  cruise  to  the  Mediterra 
nean,  was  come  up  with  by  the  British  ship  of  war  Leopard, 
one  of  a  squadron  then  at  anchor  within  the  waters  of  the 
United  States.  An  officer  was  sent  from  the  Leopard  to  the 
Chesapeake,  with  a  note  from  the  captain  respecting  some  de 
serters  from  some  of  his  Britannic  majesty's  ships,  supposed  to  be 
serving  as  part  ot  the  crew  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  required  per 
mission  to  search  for  them.  Commodore  Barren  sent  answer 
that  he  knew  of  no  such  men  as  described ;  that  the  recruiting 
officers  of  the  Chesapeake  had  been  particularly  instructed  by 
the  government  not  to  enter  any  deserters  from  English  ships, 
and  that  he  had  been  instructed  never  to  permit  the  crew  of  any 
ship  under  his  command  to  be  mustered  by  any  officers  but  his 
own.  The  Leopard,  shortly  after  this  answer  was  sent,  ranged 
alongside  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  commenced  a  heavy  fire  upon 
her.  The  Chesapeake,  unprepared  for  action,  made  no  resist 
ance,  when,  having  suffered  much  damage,  and  lost  three  men 
killed  and  eighteen  wounded,  the  commodore  ordered  his 
colors  to  be  struck,  and  sent  an  officer  on  board  the  Leopard  to 
surrender  his  vessel.  The  commander  of  the  British  ship  then 
took  possession  of  the  Chesapeake,  mustered  her  crew,  and, 
carrying  off  four  or  five  of  the  men,  abandoned  the  ship. 
Commodore  Barron  at  once  returned  to  Hampton  Roads  and 
reported  the  occurrence  to  the  government.  On  receiving  the 
information  of  this  outrage,  the  President,  by  proclamation, 
interdicted  the  harbors  and  waters  of  the  United  States  to  all 
armed  British  vessels,  and  forbade  intercourse  with  them.  A 
United  States  vessel  was  dispatched  with  instructions  to  the 
American  minister  to  London  to  call  on  the  British  Govern 
ment  for  the  satisfaction  and  security  which  the  outrage 
required. 

In  November,  the  English  ministr}'  issued  new  orders  in 
council,  proclaiming  a  blockade  of  pretty  much  all  Europe, 
and  forbidding  any  trade  in  neutral  vessels,  unless  they  had 
•first  gone  into  some  British  port  and  paid  duties  on  their  car 
goes.  In  December,  France  proclaimed  a  new  decree,  by  which 
it  was  declared  that  any  ship  was  lawful  prize  that  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  Great  Britain,  that  should  pay  it  tribute,  that 
should  carry  its  merchandise,  or  that  should  be  bound  either  to 
or  from  any  of  its  ports.  On  the  22d  of  December,  congress 
passed  an  act  laying  an  embargo  on  all  shipping  in  the  ports  of 
the  United  States.  The  depariure  of  any  vessel  from  any  port 


66  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  the  United  States  bound  to  any  foreign  port  was  forbidden, 
except  by  the  express  commission  of  the  President.  Foreign 
armed  vessels  with  public  commissions,  and  foreign  merchant- 
ships  in  ballast,  or  only  with  such  cargo  as  they  had  when 
notified  of  the  act,  were  excepted.  Coasting-vessels  were  to  give 
bonds  in  double  the  value  of  their  cargoes,  to  reland  the  same 
in  the  United  States. 

Aaron  Burr  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  prosecuting  a 
scheme  for  the  separation  of  the  western  country  from  the 
Union,  and  the  subjugation  of  New  Orleans,  but  after  a  pro 
tracted  trial,  no  overt  act  of  treason  being  proved  against  him, 
he  was  released. 

The  practicability  and  advantages  of  propelling  boats  by 
steam-power  was  for  the  first  time  demonstrated  to  the  satis 
faction  of  the  public  this  year,  by  Kobert  Fulton.  In  the 
spring  his  steamboat,  called  the  Clermont,  was  launched,  and 
an  engine  procured  from  England  put  in  her.  On  the  1st  of 
August  the  first  trip  was  commenced,  and  the  boat  ran  from 
New  York  to  Albany,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  against  the  current,  in  thirty-two  hours.  The  boat  soon 
after  ran  regular  trips  between  those  places,  and  proved  a 
success. 

A  log- cabin  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  city  of  Rochester, 
which  was  the  first  house  built  there. 

1808  The  operations  of  the  embargo  law,  although  the  measure 
was  sustained  by  a  majority  of  the  American  people,  was  the 
occasion  of  great  distress,  particularly  among  the  commercial 
community  throughout  the  United  States.  Dependent  as  we 
were  on  foreign  markets  for  the  sale  of  our  redundant  products, 
now  that  we  were  not  permitted  to  export  them,  they  fell  to 
half  their  wonted  price,  and  even  less.  To  many  of  the  pro 
ducers  they  did  not  repay  the  cost  of  production.  The  supply 
of  foreign  merchandise,  too,  which  habit  had  made  necessary, 
and  of  which  there  was  no  domestic  supply  or  an  insufficient  one, 
being  cut  off,  its  price  rose  proportionally  high,  and  thus  the 
expenses  of  the  agricultural  classes  increased  in  the  same  pro 
portion  that  their  means  of  defraying  them  diminished.  It 
bore  still  harder  on  the  sailors  and  ship-owners,  who  were 
thrown  entirely  out  of  employment,  and  here  the  pressure  was 
most  severely  felt  in  the  States  that  were  most  addicted  to  navi 
gation.  It  operated  as  a  bounty  on  manufactures,  but  this,  at 
first,  benefited  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  community^. 

In  Boston  and  in  Portland  soup-kitchens  were  established  in 
aid  of  the  suffering. 

At  the  presidential  election  held  this  year,  the  candidates  of 
the  Democratic  party  were  elected.  James  Madison  received 
one  hundred  and  twenty-two  electoral  votes  for  President,  and 
George  Clinton  one  hundred  and  thirteen  for  Vice-President. 
The  Federalists  nominated  Charles  C.  Pinckney  for  President, 
and  Ruf  us  King  for  Vice-President,  and  each  received  forty-seven 
votes.  Of  the  Democratic  votes,  six  were  given  to  George 
Clinton  for  President.  The  States  which  supported  tlie  Fed- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  67 

eral  nominations  were  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  and  Delaware. 

The  Choctaws  ceded  to  the  United  States  their  lands  which 
formed  the  southern  part  of  Mississippi.  A  large  part  of 
Michigan  was  purchased  from  the  Ottawas,  Chippeways, 
Wyandots,  and  Pottowatomies. 

By  a  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  it  appeared 
that  a  great  number  of  roads  were  built  in  the  Eastern  and  Mid 
dle  States,  while  few  had  been  constructed  south  of  the  Poto 
mac.  The  roads  were  chiefly  turnpikes,  varying  in  cost  from 
less  than  a  thousand  dollars  a  mile  to  fourteen  thousand.  The 
toll  collected  paid  au  interest  on  the  investment,  in  some 
instances  less  than  three  per  cent,  in  others  as  high  as  eleven. 
Connecticut  since  1803  had  incorporated  fifty  turnpike  com 
panies.  In  New  York,  in  less  than  seven  years,  sixty-seven 
companies  for  building  roads  had  been  incorporated,  and 
twenty-one  more  to  build  toll- bridges.  It  was  recommended 
that  the  National  Government  should  spend  two  millions  of 
dollars  yearly  for  ten  years  in  improving  the  communication 
between  different  parts  of  the  Union. 

The  importation  of  negro  slaves  into  the  United  States  was 
prohibited  by  act  of  congress  in  1806,  to  take  effect  on  the  1st 
of  January  of  this  year. 

The  steamboat  Phoenix,  built  by  John  Stevens,  ran  from 
Hoboken,  on  the  Hudson,  to  Philadelphia.  This  was  prob 
ably  the  first  steam-vessel  ever  navigated  on  the  ocean. 

The  first  book  printed  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  published, 
containing  the  laws  of  Louisiana  Territory. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  St.  Louis  was  issued  in 
July,  and  named  The  Missouri  Gazette.  The  first  one  in 
Indiana  was  published  at  Vincennes. 

The  first  settlement  in  Oregon  was  made  by  the  Missouri 
Fur  Company,  by  the  establishment  of  a  trading-post  on  the 
Lewis  River. 

The  first  Temperance  Society  recorded,  established  in  this 
country,  was  formed  in  March  by  forty-three  members  resid 
ing  in  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y. 

The  first  church  edifice  erected  in  Williamsburg  was  com 
pleted  for  the  Methodists. 

1809  James  Madison  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  George  Clinton  took  the  oath  of  office  as  Vice- 
President. 

Congress,  in  March,  repealed  the  embargo  law  as  to  all 
nations  excepting  Great  Britain  and  France  ;  and  as  to  those 
nations  all  commercial  intercourse  with  them  was  interdicted, 
whether  by  exporting  or  importing,  either  directly  or  circuit- 
ously.  An  act  was  also  passed  for  increasing  the  army  and  navy. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  Mr.  Erskine,  minister  from  Great 
Britain  to  the  United  States,  pledged  his  court  to  repeal  its 
anti-neutral  decrees  by  the  10th  of  June  ;  whereupon  the  Presi 
dent  proclaimed  that  commercial  intercourse  would  be  renewed 
on  that  day.  The  king  refused  to  ratify  the  arrangement  made 


•68  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

by  Mr.  Erskine,  and  recalled  him.  The  President  therefore 
issued  a  second  proclamation,  reviving  the  non-intercourse  law. 
Mr.  Jackson  succeeded  Mr.  Erskine,  and  he  soon  giving 
offence  to  the  American  Government,  the  President  refused 
all  intercourse  with  him,  and  he  was  also  recalled. 

Illinois  Territory  was  formed  and  established  by  act  of  con 
gress,  on  the  3d  of  February.  It  embraced  the  present  States  of 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin. 

Sails  were  about  this  time  made  in  Boston,  from  the  first 
cotton-duck  manufactured  in  this,  if  not  in  any  other  country. 

The  first  church  Sunday-school  formed  in  the  United  States 
was  established  at  Pittsburg.  From  this  period  began  the 
transfer  of  the  control  of  Sunday-schools  from  individuals  to 
churches,  and  the  change  made  from  paid  to  voluntary  teach 
ers,  and  from  secular  to  religious  instruction. 

1810  The  Rambouillet  decree,  alleged  to  be  designed  to  retaliate 
the  act  of  congress  which  forbade  French  vessels  to  enter  the 
ports  of  the  United  States,  was  issued  by  the  French  Govern 
ment  on  the  23d  of  March.  By  this  decree  all  American  ves 
sels  and  cargoes  arriving  in  the  ports  of  France,  or  of  countries 
occupied  by  French  troops,  were  ordered  to  be  seized  and  con 
demned.  On  the  1st  of  May  congress  passed  an  act  exclud 
ing  British  and  French  armed  vessels  from  the  waters  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  providing  that  if  either  of  those  nations 
should  modify  its  edicts  before  the  3d  of  March  ensuing,  so  that 
they  should  cease  to  violate  neutral  commerce,  of  which  fact 
the  President  was  to  give  notice  by  proclamation,  and  the  other 
nation  should  not  within  three  months  after  pursue  a  similar 
step,  commercial  intercourse  with  the  first  might  be  renewed, 
but  not  with  the  other.  On  the  2d  of  November  the  President 
issued  his  proclamation  declaring  that  the  French  decrees  were 
revoked,  and  that  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and 
France  might  be  renewed.  England,  however,  continued  her 
restrictions  on  American  commerce,  and  the  better  to  enforce 
them,  stationed  ships  of  war  before  the  principal  ports  of  the 
United  States,  to  intercept  communication.  On  the  10th  of  the 
same  month  a  proclamation  was  issued  interdicting  commer 
cial  intercourse  with  Great  Britain. 

At  this  period  the  number  of  paper-mills  in  the  United 
States  was  one  hundred  and  eighty.  The  importation  of  rags 
was  now  commenced. 

The  first  agricultural  exhibition  held  in  this  country  was 
•opened  at  Georgetown,  D.  C. 

The  first  lot  of  cotton  goods  printed  from  engraved  rollers 
was  put  on  the  market  from  a  factory  near  Philadelphia,  on 
the  6th  of  October.  The  cylinder  machine  was  imported  from 
England,  and  the  new  process  now  began  to  supersede  that  of 
block-printing,  previously  in  use. 

Astoria,  in  Oregon,  was  founded  by  the  Pacific  Fur  Com 
pany  of  Oregon,  of  which  John  Jacob  Astor  was  the  chief  pro 
prietor. 

The  first  foreign  missionary  society  founded  in  the  United 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  6& 

States  was  formed  under  the  title  of  the  "  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions." 

1811     Reparation  was  made  by  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  for 
the  attack  of  the  Leopard  upon  the  Chesapeake. 

On  the  16th  of  May  there  was  a  fight  between  the  American 
frigate  President,  of  forty-four  guns,  and  the  English  sloop  of 
war  Little  Belt,  of  eighteen  guns.  This  vessel  belonged  to  the 
British  squadron  which  was  ordered  to  the  American  coast  to 
break  up  the  trade  from  the  United  States  to  France,  and  the 
President  was  one  of  the  few  ships  the  government  had  for  the 
protection  of  her  commerce.  The  ships  met  a  few  miles  south 
of  Sandy  Hook,  chased  each  other  in  turn,  then  fired  into  each 
other  without  any  reasonable  pretext  for  the  first  shot,  which 
each  accused  the  other  of  having  fired.  The  loss  on  board  the 
English  ship,  in  an  encounter  which  lasted  only  a  few  minutes, 
was  over  thirty  in  killed  and  wounded,  while  only  a  single  man 
was  slightly  wounded  on  board  the  President.  The  affair  cre 
ated  great  excitement,  and  a  court  of  inquiry  was  instituted, 
which  found  that  the  first  shot  was  fired  by  the  Little  Belt. 

Hostilities  with  Great  Britain  being  apprehended,  congress 
passed  an  act  for  raising  an  additional  force  of  twenty -five 
thousand  men. 

A  theatre  in  Richmond,  Va.,  was  burned  on  the  evening  of 
the  26th  of  December,  when  more  than  six  hundred  persons 
were  present.  Nearly  seventy  lives  were  lost  on  the  occasion, 
and  many  more  died  afterward  from  injuries  received.  A  fire 
occurred  in  New  York  on  the  19th  of  May,  destroying  about 
one  hundred  buildings  ;  and  at  Newburyport  on  the  31st,  con 
suming  more  than  two  hundred  buildings  and  other  property, 
valued  at  six  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  frontier  settlers  being  seriously  alarmed  by  hostile  indi 
cations  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  General  Harrison,  early  in 
November,  commanded'an  expedition  for  demanding  satisfaction 
of  the  savages,  and  to  put  a  stop  to  their  threatened  hostilities. 
On  the  7th  of  November  his  camp  was  surprised  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  by  the  enemy,  and  a  bloody  and  doubt 
ful  contest  ensued.  The  Indians  were  finally  repulsed  with 
considerable  loss.  General  Harrison  then  destroyed  their  prin 
cipal  settlement,  called  Tippecanoe,  and  established  forts  in 
their  country. 

The  first  steamboat  which  ran  on  the  Western  waters  left 
Pittsburg  on  the  29th  of  October,  bound  for  New  Orleans,  where 
it  was  intended  to  ply  between  that  city  and  Natchez.  Five 
steamboats  were  running  between  New  York  and  Albany  at 
this  period,  and  one  between  New  York  and  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.  The  first  ferry-boat  propelled  by  steam  in  this,  and 
probably  in  any  other  country,  commenced  to  ply  between  New 
York  and  Hoboken. 

At  this  period  there  was  but  one  dry-goods  store  in  Brook 
lyn.  Mails  passed  through  Long  Island  but  once  a  week. 

The  manufacture  of  chemicals,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  New 
England,  was  commenced  at  Salem,  Mass. 


70  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  charter  of  the  United  States  Bank,  incorporated  in  the 
year  1791,  expired  this  year,  and  its  renewal  was  defeated  in 
congress,  principally  through  the  influence  of  those  who  desired 
to  establish  smaller  banks  for  themselves. 

1812  Congress  passed  an  act,  on  the  3d  of  April,  establishing  an 
embargo  for  the  period  of  ninety  days  on  all  vessels  in  and  ar 
riving  in  port ;  and  soon  afterwards  an  act  to  prohibit  the  ex 
portation  of  specie,  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  during  the 
continuance  of  the  embargo.  In  June,  congress  passed  a  bill 
declaring  war  with  Great  Britain,  which  was  signed  by  the 
President  on  the  18th.  The  reasons  given  for  this  action  were 
the  impressment  of  American  seamen  by  the  British  ;  the  seiz 
ure  of  persons  as  British  subjects  on  the  high  seas,  sailing  un 
der  the  American  flag  ;  the  violation  of  the  rights  and  the  peace 
of  our  coasts  by  British  cruisers  ;  the  blockading  of  their  ene 
mies'  ports  without  an  adequate  force  ;  and  the  orders  in 
council  affecting  neutral  rights.  At  the  same  time  a  suspicion 
was  suggested  that  the  Indians  had  been  incited  to  hostile  acts 
by  British  agents. 

The  declaration  of  war  found  many  opponents  throughout 
the  country,  who  strongly  expressed  their  disapprobation  of  the 
policy  of  the  government.  At  the  same  time  a  majority  of 
the  people  were  exasperated  by  the  aggressive  conduct  of  Eng 
land,  and  supported  the  measures  of  congress  to  sustain  the  dig 
nity  of  the  nation.  In  Baltimore  the  contending  parties  were 
particularly  aggressive.  The  editors  of  the  Federal  Republican, 
a  newspaper  printed  in  that  city,  having  published  strictures  on 
the  declaration  of  war,  a  mob  assembled  at  night,  tore  down 
their  office,  and  destroyed  their  printing  materials.  The  paper 
was  afterwards  established  at  Georgetown,  and  a  house  was 
engaged  in  Baltimore  from  which  the  papers  were  -to  be  dis 
tributed.  One  of  the  editors,  with  General  Henry  Lee,  General 
Lingan,  and  many  others,  having  provided  arms  and  ammuni' 
tion,  they  determined,  if  attacked,  to  defend  themselves  in  the 
exercise  of  their  rights.  In  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  July  a 
mob  collected,  and  assailed  the  house  with  stones.  While  they 
were  forcing  the  door  several  muskets  were  fired,  by  which 
two  persons  were  killed  and  several  wounded.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  military  a  compromise  was  effected.  The  persons  within 
the  house  surrendered  on  a  promise  of  safety  in  the  prison.  On 
the  following  night  the  mob  reassembled,  broke  open  the  jail, 
killed  General  Lingan,  bruised  and  mangled  eleven  others,  eight 
of  whom,  supposed  to  be  dead,  were  thrown  in  a  heap  in  front 
of  the  jail.  Some  of  the  ringleaders  were  tried,  but  they  es 
caped  punishment.  The  funeral  obsequies  of  General  Lingan 
were  attended  at  Georgetown  by  three  thousand  persons. 

The  prosecution  of  the  war  commenced  on  the  Canadian 
borders.  The  programme  for  the  campaign  was  the  invasion 
of  Canada  at  three  points,  namely,  Detroit,  and  Niagara  and 
St.  Lawrence  rivers.  General  William  Hull,  Governor  of 
Michigan  Territory,  commenced  crossing  the  river  at  Detroit  to 
the  Canadian  shore  on  the  12th  of  July,  writh  a  considerable 


HISTORY   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  71 

force,  with  the  intention  of  capturing  Port  Maiden,  about 
eighteen  miles  below.  After  spending  nearly  a  month  in  in 
action,  Hull  received  intelligence  of  an  advance  of  a  British 
army  under  General  Brock  for  the  relief  of  the  fort,  and  he  im 
mediately  ordered  his  forces  to  abandon  Canada  and  return  to 
Detroit,  much  to  the  disappointment  and  indignation  of  his 
officers  and  men.  Soon  afterward  the  British  projected  a  siege 
of  Detroit;  but  scarcely  had  it  commenced  when  Hull,  on  the 
16th  of  August,  displayed  a  white  flag  from  the  fort  and  soon 
made  its  surrender,  without  having  fired  a  shot  or  made  any 
effort  to  stay  the  course  of  the  enemy.  By  the  terms  of  the 
capitulation  all  of  Michigan  Territory  was  surrendered  to  the 
British,  a  large  amount  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  provisions, 
and  three  thousand  men  as  prisoners  of  war.  General  Hull 
was  soon  exchanged,  and  in  the  year  1814  was  tried  and  con 
demned  by  court-martial  for  cowardice  and  sentenced  to  be 
shot,  but  he  was  pardoned  by  the  President  on  account  of  his 
services  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 

An  American  force  under  the  command  of  General  Van  Rens- 
selaer  crossed  the  Niagara  River  on  the  13th  of  October,  and  made 
an  attack  on  the  British  stationed  on  Queenstown  Heights.  At 
first  the  Americans  were  successful,  but  later  on  were  totally 
defeated,  with  a  loss  of  about  two  hundred  killed  and  wounded, 
and  upwards  of  one  thousand  surrendered  as  prisoners  of  war. 
In  the  battle  General  Brock,  the  British  commander  in-chief , 
was  slain. 

A  naval  engagement  occurred  on  the  19th  of  August  off  the 
American  coast  between  the  United  States  vessel  Constitution, 
commanded  by  Captain  Isaac  Hull,  and  the  British  frigate 
Guerriere.  After  a  severe  action  at  close  quarters  of  about  half 
an  hour  the  enemy's  vessel  surrendered,  but  was  found  to  be  so 
much  injured  she  was  burned.  The  enemy's  loss  was  fifteen 
killed,  sixty-four  wounded,  and  twenty-one  missing;  of  the 
Constitution,  fourteen  killed  and  wounded.  On  the  18th  of 
October  the  Wasp,  a  United  States  schooner  under  the  com 
mand  of  Captain  Jones,  fell  in  with  a  squadron  of  British 
merchantmen,  convoyed  by  the  British  sloop  of  war  Frolic,  off 
the  coast  of  North  Carolina.  A  severe  engagement  ensued,  in 
which  the  American  vessel  was  victorious.  The  sea  was  very 
rough,  and  it  required  much  nautical  skill  to  manage  the  ves 
sels.  At  one  time  they  were  so  near  that  they  touched  each 
other,  and  the  destruction  wrought  by  their  guns  was  terrible. 
At  length  the  Americans  boarded  the  enemy,  but  they  found 
no  man  to  oppose  them.  The  decks  were  covered  by  the  dead 
and  wounded,  and  every  man  who  was  able  had  gone  below, 
except  the  seaman  at  the  wheel.  Very  soon  after  the  victory 
was  secured  the  Poictiers,  a  British  seventy-four  gun  ship,  ap 
peared,  and  captured  both  the  Wasp  and  her  prize. 

On  the  25th  of  October  Captain  Decatur,  of  the  frigate 
United  States,  captured  the  British  frigate  Macedonian,  after 
an  action  of  an  hour  and  a  half.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  was 
thirty -six  killed  and  sixty-eight  wounded;  of  the  Americans, 
twelve  killed  and  wounded. 


72  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

On  the  29th  of  December  the  Constitution,  commanded  by 
Commodore  Bainbridge,  had  an  engagement  with  the  British 
frigate  Java  which  lasted  three  hours,  in  which  the  latter  was 
captured  by  the  Americans.  In  the  course  of  the  action  the 
Java  was  reduced  to  a  wreck.  She  was  entirely  dismasted,  a 
large  number  of  her  guns  were  disabled ,  her  hull  was  much  shat 
tered,  and  her  bowsprit  was  shot  away,  while  the  Constitution 
did  not  lose  a  spar.  The  Java  was  bound  to  the  East  Indies 
and  had  on  board  upward  of  one  hundred  officers  and  men  des 
tined  for  service  in  the  East.  Her  officers  and  crew  numbered 
over  four  hundred,  and  of  these  twenty-two  were  killed  and 
one  hundred  and  two  wounded.  The  Constitution  lost  nine 
killed  and  twenty-five  wounded. 

Congress  passed  an  act  admitting  the  Territory  of  Orleans 
into  the  Union  as  a  State  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  and 
changed  the  name  of  the  territory  lying  north  of  it  from  that 
of  the  District  of  Louisiana  to  the  Missouri  Territory. 

At  the  presidential  election  this  year  the  Democratic  candi 
dates  were  successful,  and  the  war  policy  of  the  government 
was  sustained,  which  was  the  most  important  issue  between  the 
two  parties.  James  Madison,  the  nominee  of  the  Democrats  for 
President,  received  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  electoral 
votes,  and  Elbriclge  Gerry  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  votes  for 
Vice-President.  The  Democratic  party,  however,  in  the  State 
of  New  York  nominated  De  Witt  Clinton  against  Mr.  Madison, 
and  Jared  Ingersoll  against  Mr.  Gerry.  Those  nominations 
were  also  supported  by  the  Federalists  throughout  the  country, 
Clinton  receiving  eighty-nine  and  Ingersoll  eighty-six  electoral 
votes. 

Columbus  in  Ohio  was  laid  out  and  made  the  capital  of  the 
State.  The  seat  of  government  for  Pennsylvania  was  removed 
from  Lancaster  to  Harrisburg.  Rochester  in  New  York  was 
surveyed  into  lots,  and  a  post-office  and  store  were  established 
there. 

The  scarcity  of  Virginia  bituminous  coal,  which,  up  to  this 
time,  was  that  principally  in  use,  incited  further  experiments 
in  introducing  anthracite.  Nine  wagons  loaded  with  that  coal 
were  hauled  to  Philadelphia  from  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
and  six  miles,  two  of  which  wrere  sold  at  the  cost  of  transporta 
tion  and  the  remainder  given  away,  and  difficulty  was  experi 
enced  in  finding  persons  who  would  accept  it.  The  owner  of 
the  coal  narrowly  escaped  prosecution  for  swindling  by  those 
who  had  made  unsuccessful  trials  to  burn  the  "  stone,"  as  it 
was  called. 

The  first  manufacture  of  pins  in  this  countiy  was  commenced 
at  New  York  by  some  English  workmen,  who  brought  with 
them  to  this  country  the  necessary  implements.  The  business 
was  encouraged  by  the  high  price  of  pins,  which  had  advanced 
to  one  dollar  per  paper;  but  it  was  abandoned  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  the  article  then  continued  to  be  imported  as  before. 

The  first  cotton-mill  at  Fall  River,  Mass.,  was  erected  and 
put  into  operation. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  73 

The  first  steam-ferry  between  New  York  and  Jersey  City  was 
established  in  August,  and  about  the  same  time  one  went  into 
operation  between  Philadelphia  and  Camden. 

The  first  rolling-mill  established  in  Pittsburg  was  erected 
this  year. 

1813  James  Madison  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  Elbridge  Gerry  took  the  oath  of  office  as  Vice- 
President. 

The  scene  of  military  operations  this  year  continued  princi 
pally  on  the  Canadian  frontier. 

On  the  22d  of  January,  Brigadier-General  Winchester  of 
the  United  States  army,  and  nearly  five  hundred  officers  and 
men,  were  made  prisoners  at  Frenchtown,  in  Canada,  by  a  di 
vision  of  the  British  army  from  Detroit. 

General  Dearborn  embarked  on  the  25th  of  April,  with  a  force 
of  seventeen  hundred  men,  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  for  the  purpose 
of  capturing  the  British  stores  at  York — now  Toronto.  The 
landing  was  successfully  effected,  in  spite  of  the  enemy's  re 
sistance,  and  an  assault  conducted  under  General  Pike,  when, 
during  the  advancing  movement,  the  magazine  blew  up,  kill 
ing  and  wounding  several  hundred  men,  and  among  the  latter 
the  commanding  officer,  who  did  not  long  survive.  The  Amer 
ican  troops,  however,  soon  rallied  and  carried  the  place,  and 
captured  seven  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners,  together  with  a 
large  amount  of  baggage  and  public  property;  the  British  gen 
eral  and  the  remainder  of  his  forces  escaping  with  much  diffi 
culty.  The  American  squadron  returned  to  Sackett's  Harbor, 
and  soon  after  set  sail  for  the  Niagara  frontier.  The  British, 
taking  advantage  of  this  movement,  proceeded  to  Sackett's 
Harbor,  and  landed  a  force  of  one  thousand  men  under  Sir 
George  Prevost.  The  small  body  of  American  regulars  left  to 
defend  the  place  made  an  effectual  resistance  to  the  enemy's 
approach;  and  General  Brown  meanwhile  rallied  the  militia, 
which  at  first  had  given  way,  and  inarched  them  towards  the 
landing.  Sir  George,  apprehending  this  movement  as  designed 
to  cut  off  his  retreat,  withdrew  in  great  haste  to  his  boats  and 
sailed  away. 

On  the  same  day  that  the  British  were  repulsed  at  Sackett's 
Harbor,  the  American  expedition  made  an  attack  on  Fort  St. 
George,  on  the  Niagara  frontier,  and  captured  it,  taking  above 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners. 

On  the  2d  of  May  the  British  attempted  to  capture,  by  as- 
.sault,  Fort  Stephenson,  at  Lower  Sandusky,  but  were  repulsed 
with  a  loss  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

A  movement  was  commenced  in  September  by  a  large  body 
of  soldiers  under  General  Harrison  against  the  British  and 
their  Indian  allies  at  Detroit  and  Maiden.  On  the  27th  the 
troops  embarked  on  the  fleet,  and  were  transported  to  Maiden; 
but  on  their  approach  the  British  destroyed  the  fort  and  public 
stores,  and  retreated  along  the  river  Thames,  where  they  were 
pursued  by  the  Americans.  On  the  5th  of  October,  a  severe 
battle  was  fought  between  the  two  armies,  in  which  the  Amcri- 


7*4  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

cans  were  victorious.  In  this  battle  the  famous  chief  Tecum- 
seh  was  killed,  and  the  Indians  fled.  The  British  loss  was 
about  six  hundred  and  seventy  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prison 
ers.  On  the  29th  of  September  the  Americans  took  possession 
of  Detroit,  which,  on  the  approach  of  Harrison's  army,  had 
been  abandoned  by  the  British,  and  General  Harrison  issued  a 
proclamation  re-establishing  the  government  of  Michigan. 

A  body  of  Americans  were  defeated  in  a  battle  at  Williams- 
burg,  Upper  Canada,  with  a  loss  of  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  men. 

Fort  Niagara  was  surprised  by  the  British  on  the  19th  of 
December,  and  of  the  three  hundred  men  composing  the  garri 
son,  no  more  than  twenty  escaped. 

On  the  30th  of  the  same  month  the  British  proceeded  to  Buf 
falo  and  burned  the  entire  village. 

On  the  10th  of  September,  Commodore  Perry,  with  a  fleet  of 
three  brigs,  a  ship,  and  five  schooners,  carrying  fifty  four  guns, 
made  an  attack  on  a  British  squadron  of  six  vessels,  carrying 
sixty-three  guns,  on  Lake  Erie,  and  captured  the  entire  fleet. 

On  the  13th  of  June  three  British  frigates  entered  Hampton 
Roads.  Two  days  afterwards  they  were  reinforced  by  thirteen 
vessels.  On  the  22d  an  action  took  place  in  Chesapeake  Bay, 
between  a  detachment  of  the  British  fleet  and  an  American 
naval  force,  manned  by  four  hundred  and  eighty  Virginia 
militia  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  sailors,  in  which  the  British 
lost  in  killed,  wounded,  and  drowned  about  twelve  hundred  men. 

On  the  1st  of  June  Captain  James  Lawrence,  commanding 
the  United  States  frigate  Chesapeake,  sailed  out  of  Boston  har 
bor,  and  engaged  the  British  frigate  Shannon.  The  Chesa 
peake  was  captured  in  an  action  of  eleven  minutes,  and  Cap 
tain  Lawrence  mortally  wounded. 

The  United  States  sloop  of  war  Argus  was  captured  by  the 
British  sloop  of  war  Pelican,  in  St.  George's  Channel,  on  the 
14th  of  August;  and  on  the  5th  of  September  the  British  brig 
Rover  was  captured  by  the  United  States  brig  Enterprise,  off 
Portland.  The  British  sloop  of  war  Peacock  was  taken  by  the 
American  sloop  of  war  Hornet,  but  was  retaken  by  the  British 
ship  Poictiers. 

The  British  under  Admiral  Cockburn  took  possession  of 
Havre  de  Grace,  in  Maryland,  on  the  3d  of  May,  and  plun 
dered  and  burned  the  town. 

A  conflagration  occurred  at  Portsmouth,  in  New  Hampshire, 
on  the  22d  of  November,  and  destroyed  upwards  of  three 
hundred  buildings. 

The  first  stereotyping  in  America  was  done  by  Mr.  Bruce  at 
New  York;  also  by  Mr.  Watts,  who  printed  a  catechism,  which, 
it  is  believed,  was  the  first  book  issued  from  stereotype-plates  in 
this  country. 

The  Albany  Argus  issued  its  first  number  on  the  13th  of  Janu 
ary  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  The  first  successful  daily  paper  pub 
lished  in  Boston  was  called  the  Daily  Advertiser,  and  issued  its- 
first  number  on  the  3d  of  March, 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  75 

The  first  steam  ferry-boat  between  New  York  and  Brooklyn 
commenced  running  on  the  10th  of  May. 

1814  The  war  continued  on  the  northern  frontier.  On  the  3d  of 
July,  the  American  forces,  consisting  of  about  three  thousand 
men,  under  the  command  of  Generals  Scott  and  Ripley,  crossed 
the  Niagara  River,  and  took  possession  of  Fort  Niagara  with 
out  opposition.  On  the  4th,  General  Brown  with  two  thousand 
men  advanced  to  the  village  of  Chippewa,  to  attack  the  British 
force  there  intrenched  under  General  Riall.  On  the  5th  the 
British  general  drew  out  his  troops  and  offered  battle,  but  was 
compelled  to  retire  with  a  loss  of  five  hundred  men.  On  the 
25th  the  advance  of  the  two  armies  again  encountered  at  Lun- 
dy's  Lane,  not  far  from  the  Falls.  The  battle  was  obstinately 
fought  by  the  advance  on  each  side  till  the  main  body  came  up. 
The  battle  lasted  from  four  in  the  afternoon  until  midnight. 
The  loss  of  the  British  was  upwards  of  eight  hundred  in  killed 
and  wounded,  besides  two  hundred  men  and  twenty  officers  as 
prisoners.  The  British  general  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 

On  the  15th  of  August  a  large  British  force  made  an  assault 
on  Fort  Erie,  and  were  repulsed  with  great  loss. 

On  the  llth  of  September  an  American  fleet  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  under  Captain  Macdonough,  in  an  action  with  a  British 
squadron  of  superior  force,  lasting  about  two  hours  and  a  half, 
sunk  or  captured  the  entire  fleet  of  the  enemy.  The  British 
commander  was  killed,  and  nearly  nine  hundred  of  his  men  ta 
ken  prisoners. 

It  was  the  declared  intention  of  the  British  to  lay  waste     \ 
the  whole  American  coast,  from  Maine  to  Georgia.     Their  first 
attack,  as  a  part  of  this  plan,  was  made  early  in  April  on  a  part        / 
of  Saybrook,  called  Pettipauge,  near  the  mouth  of   the  Con-     J 
necticut  River,  where  they  destroyed  twenty -five  vessels. 

About  the  middle  of  August  a  British  squadron  of  between 
fifty  and  sixty  sail  arrived  in  the  Chesapeake,  with  troops  des 
tined  for  the  attack  on  Washington,  the  capital  of  the  United 
States.  A  body  of  five  thousand  of  them  having  landed,  an  ac 
tion  was  fought  at  Bladensburg,  six  miles  from  Washington,  in 
which  the  Americans  were  repulsed,  and  the  British  advanced 
towards  the  capital.  Upon  their  approach  the  President  and 
heads  of  departments  fled  from  the  town.  The  British  took 
possession  of  Washington,  burned  the  Capitol,  the  President's 
house,  the  public  offices,  the  arsenal,  the  navy -yard,  and  the 
bridge  over  the  Potomac.  On  the  29th  the  city  of  Alexandria 
capitulated  to  the  British.  On  the  llth  of  September  the 
British  admiral  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Patapsco,  four 
teen  miles  from  Baltimore,  with  a  fleet  of  fifty  sail.  The  next 
day  six  thousand  land  forces  were  disembarked  at  North  Point, 
and  commenced  their  march  towards  the  city.  On  the  12th  a 
battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  Americans  were  compelled  to 
retreat.  The  British,  however,  were  repulsed  in  an  attack  on 
Fort  McHenry,  and  abandoned  the  attempt  to  get  possession  of 
the  city.  They  retired  to  their  shipping  on  the  14th,  and  soon 
after  left  the  Chesapeake, 


76  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


, 


On  the  llth  of  July,  a  British  fleet  took  the  town  of  East- 
port,  in  Maine  ;  on  August  9th,  they  bombarded  Stonington,  in 
Connecticut ;  on  the  1st  of  September  they  took  possession  of 
Castine,  in  Maine. 

The  naval  operations  at  sea  were  continued  with  various  suc 
cess.  On  the  28th  of  March,  the  United  States  frigate  Essex, 
after  a  desperate  action,  was  captured  in  the  Bay  of  Valparaiso, 
in  South  America,  by  a  British  frigate  and  a  sloop  of  war.  On 
the  29th  of  April,  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  Peacock  cap 
tured  the  British  brig  Epervier  off  Canaveral,  Florida,  after  an 
action  of  forty-five  minutes. 

The  Indians  continued  their  hostilities  at  the  South  which 
they  had  commenced  in  the  preceding  year.  In  January,  Gen 
eral  Andrew  Jackson  made  an  excursion  into  their  country,  and 
defeated  them  in  several  engagements. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at 
Ghent  between  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States. 

Delegates  appointed  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States 
in  New  England  met  at  Hartford  in  convention  on  the  15th  of 
December.  The  proceedings  took  place  with  closed  doors,  but 
the  journal  was  afterwards  made  public.  The  convention  em 
bodied  their  views  in  a  report,  which  was  immediately  made 
public  and  extensively  circulated.  It  was  a  statement  of  griev 
ances,  many  of  which  were  real,  but  which  necessarily  arose 
out  of  a  state  of  war,  and  a  recommendation  of  several  amend 
ments  to  the  Constitution.  As  the  news  of  peace  arrived  soon 
after  the  convention  adjourned,  the  causes  of  disquiet  were  re 
moved  ;  but  as  the  delegates  were  all  of  the  Federal  party,  the 
convention,  before  and  after  their  meeting,  was  denounced  in 
the  severest  terms  by  the  administration,  as  being  treasonable 
to  the  general  government,  and  the  name  of  the  "  Hartford 
Convention"  became  with  the  Democratic  party  a  term  of  re 
proach. 

Congress  passed  an  act  on  the  23d  of  December,  establishing 
new  rates  of  postage  after  the  1st  of  the  following  February. 
The  rates  on  letters  were  to  be  as  follows,  viz. ,  for  any  distance 
not  exceeding  forty  miles,  twelve  cents ;  between  forty  and 
ninety  miles,  fifteen  cents ;  between  ninety  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  eighteen  and  three  quarters  cents  ;  between  one 
hundred  and  fifty  and  three  hundred  miles,  twenty-five  cents ; 
between  three  hundred  and  five  hundred  miles,  thirty  cents ; 
and  over  five  hundred  miles,  thirty-seven  and  one  half  cents. 
Double  letters  to  be  double  price. 

Suspension  of  specie  payments  was  declared  by  the  banks  in 
New  Orleans,  in  April ;  in  Philadelphia  and  the  District  of 
Columbia,  in  August ;  and  in  September  by  nearly  all  in  the 
Middle  and  Southern  States. 

The  "  Star-Spangled  Banner"  was  first  sung  at  the  Holliday 
Street  Theatre,  in  Baltimore,  in  October. 

The  first  newspaper  in  Illinois  was  published  about  this  time, 
at  Kankaskia,  and  called  The  Illinois  Intelligencer. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  7 

The  first  religious  newspaper  published  in  America  was- 
issued  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  and  called  The  Recorder. 

The  manufacture  of  carriages  was  commenced  at  Albany  and 
at  New  Haven. 

The  town  of  Williamsburg,  L.  I.,  contained  at  this  period 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-nine  inhabitants. 

1815  The  last  battle  of  the  war  took  place  before  New  Orleans,  on 
the  8th  of  January,  between  the  British  troops,  consisting  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  commanded  by  General  Packenham,, 
and  the  Americans,  amounting  to  six  thousand,  under  General 
Jackson.     About  two  weeks  before,  a  large  British  force  landed! 
about  six  miles  below  New  Orleans  for  the  purpose  of  attack 
ing  that  city.      A  few  days  after  landing,  General  Jackson 
ordered  a  movement  to  check  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  and 
defeated  them  in  a  battle  with  severe  loss.     On  the  1st  of  Jan 
uary,  the  British  attacked  General  Jackson's  line  of  defence 
and  were  repulsed.    Upon  another  attack  on  the  8th,  they  were 
defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and  retreated  to  their  landing- 
place,  where  they  embarked  and  sailed  away. 

The  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  concluded  at  Ghent,  was  ratified  by  the  President  on  the 
17th  of  February. 

War  was  declared  in  March  by  the  United  States  against 
Algiers.  The  causes  for  this  step  were,  that  the  Dey  of  Al 
giers  had  violently  and  without  just  cause  obliged  the  consul 
of  the  United  States  and.  all  American  citizens  in  Algiers  to 
leave  that  place  in  violation  of  the  treaty  subsisting  between 
the  two  nations  ;  that  he  had  exacted  from  the  consul  a  large 
sum  of  money,  to  which  he  had  no  just  claim  ;  and  that  these 
acts  of  violence  and  outrage  had  been  followed  by  the  capture 
of,  at  least,  one  American  vessel  and  her  crew,  and  by  the  seiz 
ure  of  an  American  citizen  on  board  of  a  neutral  vessel ;  that 
the  captured  persons  were  yet  held  in  captivity  ;  that  efforts  to 
obtain  their  release  had  proved  abortive  ;  and  that  there  was 
some  reason  to  believe  they  were  held  by  the  Dey  as  means 
by  which  he  calculated  to  extort  from  the  United  States  a  de 
grading  treaty.  An  expedition  was  accordingly  ordered  to  the 
Mediterranean,  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Bainbridge. 
Before  its  arrival,  a  squadron  under  the  command  of  Commo 
dore  Decatur  captured  an  Algerine  brig  of  war  and  an  Alger- 
ine  frigate  of  forty-four  guns  and  six  hundred  men.  Decatur 
then  hastened  to  the  port  of  Algiers,  where  he  readily  obtained 
a  treaty  of  peace,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  claims  and  de 
mands  of  the  United  States  were  wholly  satisfied.  He  also  ob 
tained  indemnity  from  Tunis  and  Tripoli,  and  procured  the 
release  of  captives  held  by  those  powers. 

The  water-works  at  Fairmount,  for  supplying  Philadelphia 
with  water,  were  completed. 

Cincinnati  contained  at  this  period  about  eleven  hundred 
buildings  and  six  thousand  inhabitants. 

1816  Treaties  were  concluded  with  several  tribes  of  Indians  at  the 


8  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

South,  by  which  they  ceded  large  tracts  of  land  to  the  United 
States. 

The  second  religious  newspaper  published  in  the  United 
States  was  issued  at  Boston,  on  the  3d  of  January,  under  the 
name  of  The  Eecorder. 

Indiana  was  admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union. 

Upwards  of  seven  thousand  emigrants  arrived  at  New  York} 
this  year. 

Congress  passed  an  act  establishing  a  National  Bank  for 
twenty  years,  with  a  capital  of  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars  ; 
the  main  office  to  be  at  Philadelphia,  with  branch-offices  at 
such  places  as  might  be  designated  by  the  board  of  directors. 
The  United  States  Government  was  to  take  seven  millions  of  dol 
lars  of  the  stock. 

At  the  presidential  election  of  this  year,  James  Monroe 
for  President,  and  Daniel  D.  Tonipkins  for  Vice-President, 
were  the  candidates  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  they  re 
ceived  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  electoral  votes.  The  Fed 
eralists  nominated  Rufus  King  for  President,  who  received 
thirty-four  votes.  Their  votes  for  Vice-President  were  divided 
among  several  persons. 

The  first  Episcopal  church  erected  in  Louisiana,  was 
opened  on  the  14th  of  April,  at  New  Orleans. 

The  first  steamboat  which  appeared  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  ar 
rived  there  from  Savannah,  on  the  23d  of  June. 

Travelling  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  at  this  time, 
•was  accomplished  between  sunrise  and  sunset. 

The  common  council  of  New  York  forbade  chimney-sweep 
ers  from  crying  their  trade  in  the  streets. 

The  first  savings-banks  established  in  the  United  States  were 
formed  this  year.  The  Savings  Fund  Society  of  Philadelphia 
was  opened  for  business  on  the  2d  of  December  ;  and  the  Provi 
dent  Institution  for  Savings,  at  Boston,  on  the  13th  of  the  same 
month.  The  Bank  of  Savings  was  founded  at  New  York,  at 
a  public  meeting,  held  on  the  25th  of  November,  but  did  not  go 
into  operation  until  the  3d  of  July,  1819. 

The  lighting  of  streets  with  gas  was  first  established  in  the 
United  States  at  the  city  of  Baltimore.  At  Philadelphia,  a 
theatre  was  thus  lighted  on  the  25th  of  November,  and  it  was 
the  first  place  of  amusement  in  America  illuminated  iu  that 
manner.  The  common  council  of  the  city  of  New  York  dis 
cussed  measures  for  its  introduction  there. 

1817  James  Monroe  was  inaugurated  President  on  the  4th  of 
March;  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  took  the  oath  of  office  as 
Vice-President. 

Mississippi  was  divided;  the  eastern  portion  being  erected 
into  the  Territory  of  Alabama,  and  the  western  portion  admit 
ted  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  on  the  10th  of  December. 

On  account  of  the  increasing  display  of  hostile  intentions  by 
the  Seminole  Indians,  the  government  on  the  26th  of  December 
directed  General  Jackson  to  repair  to  Fort  Scott,  and  assume 
the  immediate  command  of  the  forces  in  that  quarter  of  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  79 

southern  department.  The  regular  forces  there  at  this  time 
.were  about  eight  hundred,  and  one  thousand  more  were  added 
from  the  militia  of  Georgia.  The  strength  of  the  Indians  was 
estimated  at  twenty-seven  hundred. 

The  Hartford  Ttmtff  made  its  first  appearance  at  Hartford, 
Conn. 

"Work  commenced  in  building  the  Erie  Canal  on  the  4th  of  July. 

Property  valued  at  one  million  of  dollars  was  destroyed  by  a 
flood  in  the  Kentucky  River. 

The  first  bank  established  in  Vermont  was  incorporated  by 
the  legislature,  to  be  located  at  Windsor.  The  State  exacted  a 
bonus  from  the  institution. 

The  first  steamboat  which  was  seen  at  St.  Louis  arrived  there 
from  Louisville  on  the  2d  of  August. 

The  first  regular  line  of  packet  ships  between  New  York  and 
Liverpool  was  established,  and  called  the  "Black  Ball  Line." 
It  consisted  at  first  of  four  ships  of  four  hundred  to  five  hun 
dred  tons  each. 

The  first  institution  in  the  United  States  for  the  instruction 
of  the  deaf  and  dumb  went  into  operation  at  Hartford,  Conn., 
on  the  17th  of  April,  with  a  class  of  seven  pupils. 

1818  Illinois  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State  on  the  3d  of 
December,  and  the  seat  of  government  was  removed  from  Kas- 
kaskia  to  Vandalia,  where  it  remained  until  its  removal  to 
Springfield  in  the  year  1839.     All  the  territory  lying  north  of 
Illinois  and  Indiana  was  annexed  to  Michigan. 

Congress  enacted  that  the  national  flag  should  consist  of 
thirteen  stripes  with  twenty  white  stars  on  a  blue  field,  and 
that  a  star  should  be  added,  from  time  to  time,  au  additional 
States  should  be  admitted  into  the  Union. 

The  Indians  of  Ohio  ceded  by  treaties  all  their  lands  in  that 
State  to  the  government.  The  Chickasaws  also  ceded  all  the 
land  lying  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  northern  course  of 
the  Tennessee.  • 

The  remains  of  General  Montgomery,  the  hero  of  Quebec, 
were  transferred,  at  the  expense  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
from  their  resting-place  in  Canada,  and  were  deposited,  with 
military  honors,  on  the  8th  of  July,  beneath  the  mural  tomb  in 
front  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  first  steamboat  on  Lake  Erie  was  launched  near  Buffalo, 
and  commenced  its  first  trip  to  Detroit  on  the  23d  of  August. 

The  first  religious  newspaper  in  the  United  States  devoted  to 
the  Methodist  Society  was  established  at  Boston. 

Shoe-pegs  became  introduced  about  this  time. 

On  the  19th  of  March  a  powder-mill  near  Wilmington,  Del., 
blew  up  killing  thirty-five  persons.  The  shock  was  felt  forty 
miles  distant. 

The  principal  part  of  Table  Rock,  at  Niagara  Falls,  broke 
off  by  its  own  weight,  and  fell  into  the  gulf  below, 

The  first  savings-bank  in  Baltimore  was  established. 

1819  A  treaty  for  the  cession  of  the  Floridas  to  the  United  States 
by  Spain  was  signed  at  Washington  on  the  23d  of  February, 


80  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


and  ratified  by  the  United  States  ;  but  in  August  the  King  of 
Spain  refused  to  ratify  it.  It  was  ratified,  however,  in  1821. 
By  the  terms  arranged,  the  United  States  Government  was  to 
pay  the  sum  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  and  cede  to  Spain  its 
disputed  title  to  the  undefined  territory  of  Texas. 

Treaties  were  concluded  with  the  Kickapoo  and  Chippewa 
tribes  of  Indians,  by  which  they  ceded  large  tracts  of  land  in 
Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  to  the  United  States. 

Alabama  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  14th  of  Decem 
ber  as  a  State.  That  part  of  the  Missouri  Territory  lying  south 
of  the  latitude  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes  was  erected 
into  a  separate  district  called  the  Arkansas  Territory,  and  was 
organized  under  a  territorial  government. 

The  settlement  of  Indianapolis  was  commenced.  At  the  end 
of  the  year  there  were  fifteen  families  in  the  place. 

A  case  relating  to  Dartmouth  College,  the  adjudication  of 
which  was  considered  of  great  importance  as  affecting  other 
corporations,  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  Its  opinion  was  that  the  charter  granted  by  the  British 
crown  to  the  trustees  of  Dartmouth  College  in  the  year  1769 
was  a  contract  within  the  meaning  of  that  clause  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  which  declares  that  no  State  shall 
make  any  law  impairing  the  obligations  of  contracts  ;  that  the 
charter  was  not  dissolved  by  the  Revolution  ;  and  that  an  act  of 
the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  altering  the 
charter  without  the  consent  of  the  corporation  was  unconstitu 
tional  and  void. 

The  first  periodical  published  in  the  United  States  devoted  to 
agriculture  commenced  its  issue  on  the  2d  of  April,  at  Balti 
more,  under  the  name  of  the  American  Farmer. 

The  first  religious  newspaper  devoted  to  the  Baptist  denomi 
nation  appeared  at  Boston,  in  May,  under  the  title  of  the 
Watchman  and  Reflector. 

f  The  Anakctic  Magazine,  for  July,  contained  the  first  pub 
lished  specimen  of  American  lithographic  printing,  an  art  but  a 
short  time  before  introduced  from  Germany  into  England. 
The  stone  was  procured  from  Munich. 

Up  to  this  time  forty  steamboats  had  been  built  on  the  west 
ern  waters,  seven  of  which  had  been  wrecked  and  abandoned. 

On  the  19th  of  May,  the  first  steamboat  which  navigated  on 
the  Missouri  River  arrived  there  from  St.  Louis  on  a  passage  of 
seven  days'  sailing.  The  first  steamboat  on  Lake  Huron  ap 
peared  there  in  June. 

A  conflagration  at  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  destroyed  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dwellings  and  stores,  which,  with  other 
property  consumed,  were  valued  at  one  million  of  dollars. 

A  fire  raged  for  about  three  weeks  in  the  forests  near  Spring 
field,  N.  J.,  consuming  as  estimated  about  three  thousand  acres 
of  timber. 

The  yellow-fever  appeared  in  many  of  the  Southern  cities  this 
year.  ^  In  New  Orleans,  upwards  of  twelve  hundred  died  during 
a  period  of  sixty  days  ;  in  Natchez,  business  was  suspended,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  81 

those  that  were  able  fled  the  city.     In    Mobile,   Savannah, 
Charleston,  and  Baltimore  large  numbers  died  from  the  disease. 

The  introduction  of  the  secret  society  of  Odd  Fellows  was 
instituted  in  this  country  on  the  26th  of  April  by  five  members 
at  Baltimore,  who  organized  a  lodge  under  the  name  of  Wash 
ington  Lodge,  No.  1,  of  Odd  Fellows.  A  charter  was  soon 
afterwards  obtained  from  the  "Manchester  Unity,"  of  England, 
for  the  Washington  Lodge,  as  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Maryland 
and  the  United  States. 

The  first  specimen  of  patent  or  japanned  leather  produced  in 
this  country  was  made  as  an  experiment  by  Seth  Boyden  of 
Newark,  N.  J.  In  1822  he  commenced  its  manufacture  on  a 
small  scale,  and  about  the  year  1826  established  a  large  fac 
tory  for  its  production. 

The  first  steamship  which  ever  crossed  the  Atlantic  sailed 
from  Savannah  about  the  24th  of  May,  and  arrived  at  Liver 
pool  on  the  20th  of  June.  All  its  coal  was  consumed  within 
ten  or  twelve  days,  and  the  remainder  of  the  voyage  was  made 
under  sail.  The  steamer  was  built  in  New  York  for  some  citi 
zens  of  Savannah  ;  was  of  about  three  hundred  and  eighty  tons, 
and  named  the  Savannah.  The  experiment  did  not  demon 
strate  the  utility  of  steam  for  transatlantic  voyages. 
1820  The  district  of  Maine  was  separated  from  Masachusetts  in 
the  preceding  year,  formed  into  a  separate  State,  and  admitted 
into  the  Union  on  the  3d  of  March. 

Congress  passed  an  act  prohibiting  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States  from  engaging  in  the  slave-trade  under  the  penalty  of 
death. 

At  the  presidential  election  held  this  year,  James  Monroe  was 
re-elected  President,  and  received  all  the  electoral  votes  except 
ing  one.  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  received  all  the  electoral  votes 
excepting  fourteen,  for  a  second  term  as  Vice-President.  The 
former  distinctions  of  party  had  at  this  time  almost  if  not  quite 
disappeared,  and  new  questions  of  great  national  interest  arose 
to  divide  public  sentiment.  Among  the  most  prominent  of  the 
subjects  agitated  were  additional  protection  to  American  manu 
factures,  internal  improvements  by  the  general  government,  and 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of  the  South  Ameri 
can  republics. 

At  this  period  there  was  great  pecuniary  distress  throughout 
the  country.  There  had  been  heavy  importations  of  foreign 
merchandise,  which  tended  to  depress  prices  and  to  ruin  those 
engaged  in  manufactures  in  the  United  States.  The  currency 
was  also  in  a  deranged  state  ;  a  spirit  for  banking  companies 
prevailed,  and  an  unusually  large  number  of  those  institutions 
were  authorized  in  many  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  coun 
try  was  flooded  with  paper-money  issued  by  these  banks,  many 
of  which  were  unable  to  redeem  their  bills  when  presented,  and 
the  most  disastrous  results  soon  followed.  The  outstanding  pa 
per  currency,  which  in  1815  and  1816  was  estimated  to  be  one 
hundred  and  ten  millions,  had  been  reduced  to  about  forty -five 
millions  by  the  contraction  of  bank  discounts.  Flour,  which 


82  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

was  selling  from  ten  to  fifteen  dollars  a  barrel  in  1817,  was  now 
five  to  six.  The  prices  of  other  staples  were  equally  reduced  ; 
all  manufacturing  interests  suffered  severely,  factories  and  work 
shops  were  closed,  and  the  workmen  thrown  out  of  employ 
ment. 

Little  Rock  was  laid  out,  and  established  as  the  seat  of  govern 
ment  for  Arkansas  Territory.  Memphis,  in  Tennessee,  was  also 
laid  out. 

At  this  period  the  city  of  New  York  contained  a  population 
of  123,706;  Philadelphia,  108,116;  Baltimore,  62,738 ;  New 
Orleans,  21,176  ;  Charleston,  24,780  ;  Boston,  43,298  ;  Wash 
ington,  13,247  ;  Cincinnati,  9732 ;  Albany,  12,630  ;  Providence, 
11,761  ;  and  Brooklyn,  5210. 

A  conflagration  at  Savannah  destroyed  one  half  the  town  on 
the  llth  of  January.  Four  hundred  and  sixty -three  buildings 
were  consumed,  valued,  with  their  contents,  at  four  millions  of 
dollars.  On  the  20th  of  June,  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  the 
best  buildings  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  were  destroyed  by  fire,  involving 
a  loss  of  nearly  one  million  of  dollars. 

The  first  steamboat  on  the  Arkansas  River  ascended  to  the 
village  of  Arkansas  in  May.  The  first  steamboat  on  Lake  Michi 
gan  made  its  first  appearance  there  in  July;  it  sailed  from  De 
troit  to  Green  Bay,  carrying  two  hundred  passengers  and  a  large 
cargo. 

The  first  steamship  line  established  between  New  York  and 
New  Orleans  commenced  running  in  June. 

The  yellow-fever  raged  in  Savannah  during  the  summer  and 
autumn,  carrying  off  about  seven  hundred  of  the  inhabitants. 
Many  of  the  people  fled,  leaving  three  hundred  and  forty-three 
houses  unoccupied. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Arkansas  appeared  at  Ar 
kansas  village  under  the  title  of  The  Arkansas  Gazette.  The 
New  York  Observer  made  its  first  appearance  this  year. 

About  this  time  portable  and,  so-called,  fire  proof  safes  were 
introduced  for  sale  into  New  York.  They  were  imported  from 
France,  and  constructed  of  iron  and  wood. 

The  first  manufacture  of  carpenter's  steel  squares  in  the  Unit 
ed  States  was  commenced  at  North  Bennington,  Vt. 

The  great  national  road,  the  work  of  the  general  government, 
extending  from  Cumberland  to  Wheeling,  was  completed  this 
year.  It  was  fourteen  years  in  process  of  construction,  and  cost 
seventeen  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  intention  originally 
was  to  extend  the  road  to  the  Mississippi. 

The  first  regular  commencement  of  the  anthracite- coal  trade 
was  made  this  year  by  the  Lehigh  Coal  Company,  an  organiza 
tion  formed  in  July,  1818.  The  improvement  of  the  navigation  of 
the  Lehigh  River,  by  which  shipments  could  be  made  to  tide-wa 
ter  at  small  expense,  and  proper  means  of  lighting  the  coal  having 
been  discovered,  removed  some  of  the  difficulties  heretofore  en 
countered  in  attempting  its  introduction.  About  three  hundred 
and  sixty  five  tons  were  shipped  to  Philadelphia  during  the  year, 
but  much  difficulty  was  experienced  in  disposing  of  so  large  a 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  83 

quantity.  The  first  experiment  of  manufacturing  iron  by  the 
use  of  anthracite  coal  was  made  at  this  time  by  some  of  the 
members  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  Company. 

Daily  mails  were  established  between  New  York,  Brooklyn, 
and  Jamaica. 

The  whale-fishery  business  commenced  about  this  time  at 
New  London. 

1821  James  Monroe  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States 
on  the  4th  of  March,  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  took  the  oath  of 
office  as  Vice-President. 

The  treaty  for  the  cession  of  the  Floridas,  concluded  at  Wash 
ington  on  the  22d  of  February,  1819,  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States,  having  been  ratified  on  the  one  part  by  the  King 
of  Spain  and  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  the  other 
part,  possession  was  taken  of  those  provinces  according  to  treaty. 
On  the  1st  of  July,  General  Andrew  Jackson,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  governor  of  the  Floridas,  issued  a  proclamation  declar 
ing  that  the  government  heretofore  exercised  over  the  said 
provinces  under  the  authority  of  Spain  had  ceased,  and  that  of 
the  United  States  was  established  over  the  same;  that  the  inhabi 
tants  thereof  would  be  incorporated  in  the  union  of  the  United 
States  as  soon  as  it  might  be  consistent  with  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  and  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges, 
rights,  and  immunities  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States;  that 
in  the  mean  time  they  wrould  be  maintained  and  protected  in  the 
free  enjoyment  of  their  liberty,  property,  and  the  religion  they 
professed,  and  that  all  laws  and  municipal  regulations  which 
were  in  existence  at  the  cessation  of  the  late  government  would 
remain  in  full  force. 

Missouri  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  after  a  vio 
lent  contest  in  Congress  and  intense  excitement  throughout  the 
country  upon  the  subject  whether  it  should  or  should  not  be 
admitted  with  a  constitution  giving  its  inhabitants  the  right  to 
hold  slaves.  A  compromise  was  at  length  effected  between  the 
opposing  parties  in  Congress,  by  which  slavery  was  permitted 
in  Missouri,  but  forever  prohibited  in  the  territory  of  the  United 
States,  excepting  Missouri, lying  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty 
minutes  north  latitude. 

The  American  Colonization  Society  secured  from  the  African 
authorities  of  Cape  Mesurado,  by  purchase,  a  tract  of  territory 
in  that  country  for  the  establishment  there  of  colonies  of  free 
blacks  from  the  United  States.  A  foundation  of  a  settlement 
was  laid  near  Mesurado  River,  to  which  was  given  the  name  of 
Liberia,  and  a  new  town  was  commenced  and  called  Monrovia. 

Indianapolis  was  laid  out  as  a  town  for  the  seat  of  govern 
ment  for  Indiana,  and  given  its  present  name. 

Lowell,  in  Massachusetts,  was  founded  by  a  company  which 
was  subsequently  organized  under  the  name  of  the  Merrimac 
Manufacturing  Company,  which  purchased  four  hundred  acres 
of  land  at  that  location  for  manufacturing  purposes.  The  first 
mill  was  started  in  September,  1823. 

The  remains  of  Major  Andre  were  removed  from  their  rest- 


•  84  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ing-place  at  Tappan  in  August,  and  placed  on  board  a  British 
frigate,  to  be  transferred  to  England  for  interment  in  West 
minster  Abbey. 

The  city  council  of  Charlestown,  S.  C.,  passed  an  ordinance 
to  prohibit  the  opening  of  night  and  Sunday  schools  for  the  in 
struction  of  negro  slaves. 

Severely  cold  weather  was  experienced  in  New  York  the 
latter  part  of  January.  The  North  River  from  Cortlandt  Street 
to  Jersey  City  was  crossed  on  the  ice  by  loaded  sleighs. 

The  first  religious  newspaper  published  in  the  United  States 
devoted  to  the  Unitarians,  was  issued  at  Boston  on  the  20th  of 
April,  and  called  The  Christian  Register. 

The  receipts  of  anthracite  coal  at  Philadelphia  were  ten 
hundred  and  seventy -three  tons,  all  of  which  was  mined  by  the 
Lehigh  Company. 

1822  A  conspiracy  of  negroes  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  was  discovered 
in  June,  and  on  trial  seventy-two  were  convicted,  thirty-five  of 
whom  were  executed  and  the  remainder  sentenced  to  banish 
ment. 

The  Lehigh  mines  shipped  twenty -four  hundred  and  forty 
tons  of  coal  to  Philadelphia  during  this  year. 

The  first  strictly  commercial  newspaper  published  in  the 
United  States  south  of  Boston,  was  issued  at  New  Orleans  on 
the  27th  of  July,  under  the  title  of  The  New  Orleans  Prices- 
Current. 

The  first  newspaper  established  in  Indianapolis  was  pub 
lished  on  the  28th  of  May.  Owing  to  the  irregularity  -of  the 
mails,  the  paper  was  issued  without  established  dates. 

At  this  period  there  was  but  one  copper-rolling  mill  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  was  operated  near  Baltimore. 

The  first  Brooklyn  Directory  was  issued  in  May.  In  1796 
there  was  a  publication  called  "  The  New  York  and  Brooklyn 
Directory  and  Register  for  1796,"  but  which  contained  the 
names  only  of  those  residing  on  two  or  three  Brooklyn  streets. 

Boston  was  organized  under  a  city  charter,  and  its  first  mayor 
elected.  Gas  as  a  means  of  illumination  was  adopted. 

The  cotton-culture  in  Texas  was  commenced  this  year. 

The  manufacture  of  cotton  duck  was  begun  at  Patcrson,  N.  J. 

The  first  regular  steamship  line  between  New  York  and  Nor 
folk  commenced  running  in  the  autumn. 

1823  In  October,  the  Erie  Canal  was  finished  between  Rochester 
and  Albany,  and  the  first  passage  of  boats  was  made  on  the  8th. 

The  yellow -fever  appeared  at  Natchez,  and  out  of  its  popu 
lation  of  three  thousand,  all,  excepting  between  three  and  four 
hundred,  fled  the  place. 

The  first  steam-power  printing-press  in  the  United  States  was 
put  in  operation  in  New  York  in  June,  printing  an  abridgment 
of  Murray's  English  Grammar — the  first  work  "done. 

The  manufacture  of  wine  was  commenced  about  this  time  in 
Cincinnati. 

The  first  three-story  house  erected  in  Brooklyn  was  built  this 
year.  The  first  paving  of  streets  was  commenced  on  Sands 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  85 

Street,  and  houses  were  first  given  numbers.  Henry  Street 
was  opened,  the  Apprentices'  Library  organized,  and  the  first 
bonded  warehouse  in  the  town  erected.  At  this  time  its  popu 
lation  was  about  seven  thousand. 

The  New  York  Gas  Light  Company  was  incorporated,  but 
did  not  begin  successful  works  until  the  year  1827. 
1824  By  a  treaty  concluded  between  the  United  States  and 
Russia,  the  southern  boundary-line  of  their  possessions  on  the 
Pacific  was  fixed  at  fifty-four  degrees  and  forty  minutes  of 
north  latitude. 

On  the  13th  of  March  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave-trade.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  vessels  were  to  be  em 
ployed  by  each  of  the  nations  to  cruise  on  the  coasts  of  Africa, 
of  the  West  Indies,  and  of  America,  and  their  commanders 
were  to  be  authorized  under  certain  restrictions  to  detain,  ex 
amine,  capture,  and  deliver  over  for  trial  and  adjudication  by 
some  competent  tribunal  any  ship  or  vessel  concerned  in  the 
illicit  traffic  of  slaves,  and  carrying  the  flag  of  the  other. 

General  Lafayette  having  received  an  invitation  from  Con 
gress  to  visit  the  United  States,  resolved  to  accept  it.  He  ar 
rived  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  on  the  15th  of  August,  and 
proceeded  to  Staten  Island,  where  he  was  received  as  a  guest 
at  the  residence  of  the  Vice-President.  A  committee  of  the 
corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  a  great  number  of 
distinguished  citizens  proceeded  to  Staten  Island  to  give  him 
welcome.  An  escort  of  steamboats,  decorated  with  the  flags  of 
all  nations,  and  bearing  thousands  of  the  citizens,  brought  him  to 
the  view  of  the  assembled  multitudes  at  New  York,  who  mani 
fested  their  delight  at  seeing  him  by  shouts  and  cheers.  At 
the  City  Hall  the  officers  of  the  city  and  many  citzens  were 
presented  to  him,  and  he  was  welcomed  by  an  address  from 
the  mayor.  While  he  was  at  New  York  deputations  from 
many  of  the  principal  cities  arrived  with  invitations  for  him  to 
visit  them.  After  remaining  a  few  days  at  New  York,  he  pro 
ceeded  to  Boston,  where  he  met  with  the  same  cordial  recep 
tion.  Soon  afterwards  he  returned  to  New  York,  visited  Al 
bany  and  the  towns  on  the  North  River,  and  afterwards 
passed  through  the  intermediate  towns  to  Virginia,  where  he 
visited  the  tomb  of  Washington.  He  returned  to  Washington 
during  the  session  of  Congress,  and  remained  there  several 
weeks. 

The  custom  of  making  nominations  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  by  caucuses  of  the  members  of  Congress,  which  pre 
vailed  heretofore,  became  unpopular,  and  was  broken  up  at 
this  period.  The  result  of  the  election  this  year  showed  that 
no  choice  for  President  had  been  made  by  the  electoral  colleges, 
and  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  the  decision 
was  referred  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  body  was 
required  to  make  a  choice  in  such  an  exigency  from  the  three 
names  who  had  received  the  highest  number  of  votes.  John 
C.  Calhoun  received  one  hundred  and  eighty  two  votes  for 


86  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

Vice-President  against  seventy-eight  for  all  others,  and  was 
elected.  For  President,  Andrew  Jackson  received  ninety-nine 
votes,  John  Quincy  Adams  eighty- four;  William  H.  Crawford, 
forty -one;  and  Henry  Clay  thirty-seven.  The  result  in  the 
House  was  the  election  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

Tallahassee  was  laid  out,  a  settlement  of  the  place  commenced, 
and  made  the  capital  of  Florida. 

The  first  bank  in  Brooklyn,  called  the  Long  Island  Bank, 
and  the  first  insurance  company,  called  the  Brooklyn  Fire 
Insurance  Company,  were  established. 

A  conflagration  took  place  in  the  forests  of  Suffolk  County, 
Long  Island,  extending  over  nearly  twenty  thousand  acres,  and 
consumed,  as  estimated,  as  much  timber  as  would  have  made 
from  seventy  to  eighty  thousand  cords  of  wood. 

The  Boston  Courier  appeared  in  Boston,  on  the  2d  of  March. 

Anthracite  coal  was  first  introduced  at  New  York,  this  year. 
There  was  such  prejudice  against  its  use,  that  families  were 
offered  grates  free  of  charge,  and  in  some  instances  some  coal 
besides,  as  inducements  to  try  it. 

The  yellow-fever  raged  at  New  Orleans  with  more  violence 
than  ever  before,  and  compelled  almost  a  complete  suspension 
of  business. 

The  manufacture  of  flannel  by  water-power  was  commenced 
at  Amesbury,  Mass.,  and  a  piece  was  exhibited  at  a  Fair  which 
is  said  to  have  been  the  first  flannel  produced  in  this  or  any 
other  country,  excepting  that  made  by  hand. 

The  introduction  of  marble  as  a  building  material  in  New 
York  was  commenced,  and  the  first  building  erected  with  a 
marble  front,  excepting  the  City  Hall,  was  the  American 
Museum,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Ann  Street.  Such 
was  the  prejudice  of  builders  against  its  use,  that  they  would 
not  undertake  its  introduction,  and  a  convict  at  Sing  Sing  was 
pardoned  for  the  express  purpose  of  superintending  the  work. 
1825  John  Quincy  Adams  on  the  4th  of  March  was  inaugurated 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  John  C.  Calhoun  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  Yice-President. 

Congress  voted  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  money  and 
twenty -four  thousand  acres  of  fertile  land  in  Florida,  to 
Lafayette,  as  a  reward  and  remuneration  for  his  services  to  this 
country  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  It  was  shown  that  in  the 
six  years  from  the  year  1777  to  1783,  Lafayette  had  expended 
for  the  American  service,  from  his  personal  resources,  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  that  he  had 
left  the  enjoyments  of  rank  and  fortune  to  .come  and  serve  the 
American  cause,  and  without  pay.  He  equipped  and  armed  a 
regiment,  and  freighted  a  vessel  with  arms  and  ammunition, 
for  the  United  States  service.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1794, 
when  almost  ruined  by  the  French  Revolution,  that  he  would 
accept  the  naked  pay,  without  interest,  of  a  general  officer  for 
the  time  he  had  served.  He  was  entitled  to  land  as  one  of  the 
officers  of  the  Revolution,  and  eleven  thousand  five  hundred 
acres  had  been  granted  to  him,  to  be  located  on  any  of  the  public 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  87 

lands  of  the  United  States.  His  agent  located  one  thousand 
acres  adjoining  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  Congress  after 
wards,  not  being  informed  of  that  circumstance,  granted  the 
same  ground  to  that  city.  His  location  was  valid,  and  he  was 
so  informed ;  but  he  refused  to  adhere  to  it,  saying  that  he 
would  have  no  contest  with  any  portion  of  the  American 
people.  Lafayette  made  an  extensive  tour  through  the  South 
ern  and  Western  States,  and  on  the  15th  of  June  he,  on  his 
return,  reached  Boston.  On  the  17th  he  assisted  at  the  cere 
monies  attendant  upon  laying  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker  Hill 
monument,  and  then  visited  the  principal  places  in  New  Eng 
land.  On  the  8th  of  September  he  bade  adieu  to  the  shores  of 
America,  and  started  on  his  return  voyage  to  France. 

A  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  Creek  Indians,  by  which 
they  agreed  to  accept  lands  westward  of  the  Mississippi,  in 
exchange  for  an  equal  number  of  acres  in  the  State  of  Georgia 
to  which  they  claimed  the  title.  They  also  agreed  to  remove 
from  Georgia  to  the  new  territory  assigned  to  them.  Treaties 
were  also  made  with  the  Osages  and  Kansas  tribes,  by  which 
they  ceded  vast  territories  to  the  United  States. 

The  first  newspaper  for  Sunday  sale  and  circulation  in  the 
city  of  New  York  was  issued,  under  the  name  of  The  Sun 
day  Courier,  early  in  the  year,  but  was  soon  discontinued  for 
want  of  patronage. 

The  Erie  Canal  was  completed  its  entire  length  in  October, 
and  early  in  November  the  event  was  celebrated  writh  great 
enthusiasm.  On  the  26th  of  October,  the  Erie  Champlain  and 
Hudson  Canal  was  completed. 

The  Italian  Opera  was  introduced  into  the  United  States,  the 
first  performance  of  which  came  off  at  the  Park  Theatre,  in 
New  York,  on  the  29th  of  November. 

The  homeopathic  practice  of  medicine  was  first  introduced 
into  this  country,  by  a  physician  who  removed  to  the  city  of 
New  York  from  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  where  he  had  practised 
that  system. 

The  manufacture  of  Queensware,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the 
United  States,  was  commenced  at  Philadelphia. 

The  tinder-box,  flint  and  steel,  which  up  to  this  time  were  the 
usual  means  by  which  fire  was  struck,  were  now  being  super 
seded  by  a  new  and  better  invention,  consisting  of  a  bottle  filled 
with  an  acid  and  cotton  surmounted  with  phosphorized  pine- 
sticks. 

By  a  report  of  the  Comptroller  of  the  State  of  New  York,  it 
appears  that  nearly  ninety  thousand  dollars  were  paid  out  of  the 
treasury  during  the  preceding  ten  years  for  the  destruction  of 
wolves  in  that  State. 

An  article  appeared  in  a  newspaper  published  in  New  York 
in  October  which  stated  that  a  lot  on  the  Bowery  two  hundred 
feet  in  front  and  the  same  depth  had  been  sold  for  one  hundred 
and  five  thousand  dollars,  the  purchaser  intending  to  erect  a 
theatre  upon  the  plot. 


88  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

1826  The  seat  of  government  for  Tennessee  was  changed  from 
Murfreesborough  to  Nashville. 

An  event  occurred  this  year  of  a  singular  character,  from 
which  a  powerful  political  combination  grew  into  existence.  A 
roan  named  William  Morgan,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater 
nity  residing  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  was 
reported  to  be  engaged  in  a  publication  exposing  the  secrets  of 
that  society.  The  Masons  in  the  vicinity  were  angry,  and  re 
solved  to  prevent" the  publication,  and  made  several  forcible  but 
ineffective  attempts  for  that  purpose.  Morgan  was  soon  missing, 
and  the  unsuccessful  search  for  him  excited  an  interest  in  the 
public  mind  which  increased  to  a  high  degree  of  agitation.  A 
committee  was  appointed  at  a  public  meeting  to  ascertain  all 
the  facts,  and  to  bring  to  justice  any  criminals  that  might  be 
found.  It  was  discovered  that  he  had  been  twice  arrested  on 
false  charges,  that  he  was  taken  from  the  Canandaigua  jail  in 
the  evening  about  nine  o'clock,  gagged  and  bound,  thrown  into 
a  carriage,  and  hurried  off  to  Rochester.  By  relays  of  horses 
and  by  different  hands  he  was  borne  along  until  he  was  lodged 
in  the  magazine  at  Fort  Niagara,  where  he  was  put  to  death. 
A  great  crime  had  apparently  been  committed,  and  investiga 
tion  showed  that  Masons  only  were  implicated  in  it.  Arrests 
were  made,  but  it  was  impossible  to  secure  conviction  where 
judges,  sheriffs,  juries,  and  witnesses  were  Masons.  The  excite 
ment  soon  became  political.  It  was  alleged  .that  Masonry  held 
itself  superior  to  the  laws,  and  that  Masons  were  more  loyal  to 
their  Masonic  oaths  than  to  their  duty  as  citizens.  Masonry, 
therefore,  was  held  to  be  a  fatal  foe  to  the  government  and  to 
the  country,  which  must  be  destroyed ;  and  in  several  town 
meetings  in  Genesce  and  Monroe  counties,  Masons,  as  such,  were 
excluded  from  office.  At  the  next  general  election  the  Anti- 
masons  nominated  a  separate  ticket,  and  they  carried  five 
counties  against  both  the  great  parties.  A  State  organization 
followed,  and  in  the  election  of  1830  the  Anti-Masonic  candidate 
was  supported  by  the  National  Republicans,  and  secured  within 
eight  thousand  votes  enough  to  insure  an  election.  From  a 
State  organization  the  Anti-Masons  became  a  national  party, 
and  in  1832  nominated  a  presidential  candidate,  who  was  also 
supported  by  the  National  Republicans,  and  the  union  be 
came  the  Whig  party,  which  so  triumphantly  elected  its  presi 
dential  candidate  in  1840. 

A  railroad  was  put  into  operation  on  the  7th  of  October  at 
Quincy,  Mass.,  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  stone  from  the 
granite  quarries  at  that  place  to  tide-water,  a  distance  of  about 
three  miles.  Granite  sleepers  were  used,  upon  which  timbers 
were  placed,  and  on  those  flat  bars  of  iron  were  spiked. 
The  cars  were  drawn  by  horses.  The  novelty  and  advantages 
of  this  invention  excited  great  attention.  It  has  been  stated 
through  mistake  that  this  railroad  was  the  first  one  in  America. 
There  was  a  small  road  built  before  this  one  in  the  Lehigh  coal 
district  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  first  daily  newspaper  published  in  Cincinnati  appeared 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  89 

this  year,  under  the  title  of  The  Commercial  Register.  The 
first  daily  newspaper  established  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  was 
issued  on  the  25th  of  October,  and  called  The  Rochester  Daily 
Advertiser.  The  Richmond  Whig  appeared  in  Richmond,  Va., 
and  the  New  Orleans  Bee  at  New  Orleans. 

Earthen  sewer-pipes  were  exhibited  at  a  Fair  held  in  Balti 
more,  in  November,  and  that  article  soon  became  generally 
introduced  from  this  time. 

The  manufacture  of  palm-leaf  hats  in  this  country  was  com 
menced  in  Massachusetts,  the  material  having  been  imported 
from  Cuba. 

The  first  manufacture  of  axes  and  other  edge  tools  was  com 
menced  this  year,  at  Hartford,  Conn. 

The  manufacture  of  school-slates,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the 
United  States,  was  established  in  Pennsylvania,  near  the  Dela 
ware  River. 

The  introduction  of  the  mulberry-tree  into  the  United  States 
was  made  for  a  nursery  at  Flushing,  L.  I.  The  tree  was  im 
ported  from  France. 

The  English  tragedian  Macready  made  his  first  appearance 
on  the  American  stage  on  the  3d  of  October,  at  the  Park  Thea 
tre,  in  New  York. 

1827  The  era  for  the  commencement  of  the  construction  of  rail 
roads  in  the  United  States  dates  from  this  year.  The  success 
of  the  small  railroad  at  Quincy,  Mass.,  demonstrated  the  fact 
that  much  heavier  loads  could  be  drawn,  and  more  easily  with 
the  same  power,  in  cars  with  wheels  running  on  iron  rails  than 
in  wagons  upon  common  roads,  even  when  those  roads  were  in 
the  most  passable  condition.  News  of  the  success  of  railroads 
in  England  had  just  reached  the  United  States,  and  had  at 
tracted  much  attention  here,  where  the  necessity  for  improved 
highways  was  felt  to  be  more  imperative.  At  this  period 
locomotives  had  not  been  used,  even  in  England,  and  the  first 
railroads  there,  as  well  as  here,  were  intended  for  horse  power 
only.  As  an  evidence  of  the  public  sentiment  of  the  time  con 
cerning  railroads,  the  following  extract  from  Niles'  Register,  of 
the  3d  of  January,  1829,  is  quoted,  viz.:  "  The  public  mind  is 
every  day  more  and  more  settling  into  a  belief  that  railroads  will 
.supersede  canals,  or  at  least  be  preferred,  unless  when  the  latter 
can  be  made  under  peculiarly  favorable  circumstances,  for 
certain  reasons,  best  fitted  for  some  particular  business.  It  is 
believed  that  railroads  are  much  less  expensive  than  canals  as 
to  their  construction  or  repair,  and  transportation  on  them  is 
far  less  liable  to  interruption  on  various  accounts,  and  may  be 
continued  throughout  the  whole  year.  The  ascent  of  consid 
erable  heights  over  which  railroads  shall  pass,  will  possibly  be 
assisted  by  stationary  engines,  or  the  use  of  additional  horse 
power  ;  but  we  rather  think  that  from  improvements  now  pre 
sented,  locomotive  engines  will  never  come  into  general  use, 
the  power  necessary  for  the  transportation  of  ponderous  com 
modities  being  so  reduced  as  to  become  unworthy  of  much 
consideration  compared  with  the  work  performed,"  The  ad- 


90  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

vantages  of  railroads  worked  by  horse-power  over  other  known 
means  of  land  transportation  were  generally  appreciated  by  the 
public.  A  charter  was  granted  by  the  Legislature  of  Maryland, 
for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  to  connect  Baltimore  with 
Wheeling,  and  books  for  subscriptions  to  the  stock  were 
opened  at  Baltimore  on  the  20th  of  March  of  this  year.  The 
city  made  a  subscription  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
fifteen  hundred  thousand  dollars  more  were  solicited.  Upon 
closing  the  subscription-book  on  the  31st  of  March,  it  was 
found  that  offers  were  made  for  a  considerable  amount  more 
than  twice  that  required.  The  projectors  of  the  road  in  ask 
ing  for  a  charter,  stated  to  the  members  of  the  legislature  that 
the  whole  distance  between  Baltimore  and  Wheeling  could  be 
travelled  at  an  average  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour.  The  en 
thusiasm  on  the  railroad  question  was  not  confined  to  Balti 
more.  The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  by  a  large  majority, 
authorized  the  appointment  of  commissioners  and  an  engineer 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  a  proper  line  of  railroad  be 
tween  the  city  of  Boston  and  the  Hudson  River.  In  May  a 
railroad  was  completed  at  Mauch  Chunk,  in  Pennsylvania,  for 
the  transportation  of  coal  from  the  Summit  mines  to  the  land 
ing  on  the  Lehigh.  The  cars  ran  down  by  gravity,  and  were 
drawn  back  by  mules. 

At  this  period,  Indianapolis  contained  twenty-five  brick, 
sixty  frame,  and  about  eighty  hewn-log  houses  ;  a  court-house, 
jail,  and  three  churches. 

The  population  of  Hartford  was  at  this  time  six  thousand 
nine  hundred;  of  New  Haven,  seven  thousand  one  hundred  ;  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  six  thousand  five  hundred;  and  of  New  Bruns 
wick,  six  thousand  seven  hundred. 

The  manufacture  of  fire-bricks  was  commenced  at  Baltimore, 
Before  this  they  were  obtained  only  from  England.  The  gen 
eral  use  of  grates  and  furnaces  was  established  about  this 
time. 

The  first  lithographic  establishment  in  the  United  States  was 
started  this  year  at  Boston.  The  artists  and  materials  were  im 
ported  from  England. 

About  this  date  the  first  store  in  this  country  for  the  sale  of 
American  hardware  was  opened  at  Philadelphia,  by  Amasa 
Goodyear  and  his  son,  of  india-rubber  celebrity. 

The  Journal  of  Commerce  issued  its  first  number  at  New 
York  on  the  1st  of  September.  It  was  aided  in  starting  by 
Arthur  Tappan,  and  was  established  in  the  interests  of  Aboli 
tionism.  Eventually  it  came  into  the  possession  of  David 
Hale  and  Gerard  Hallock,  and  became  a  conservative  organ. 
The  Morning  Enquirer  was  started  at  New  York  in  May  ;  and 
these  two  papers  were  rivals  for  the  mercantile  advertisements 
of  the  city,  and  tried  to  surpass  each  other  in  size,  whence  the 
term  "blanket-sheets"  was  given  them.  To  get  the  commer 
cial  news  they  established  swift  schooners  and  pony-expresses. 
In  1829  the  Morning  Courier  wras  united  to  the  Enquirer,  and 
in  1861  merged  in  the  New  York  World. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  91 

1828  At  the  presidential  election  this  year  John  Quincy  Adams 
was  the  candidate  of  the  National  Republican  party,  which  ad 
vocated  a  high  protective  tariff,  and  the  aid  of  the  government 
to  be  given  in  carrying  out  a  system  of  internal  improvements. 
General  Andrew  Jackson  was  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic 
party,  which  opposed  those  measures.  After  a  spirited  contest, 
in  which  much  personal  abuse  was  mingled,  General  Jackson 
was  elected,  receiving  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  of  the 
two  hundred  and  sixty -one  electoral  votes.  The  question  of  a 
protective  tariff  was  now  one  of  the  main  issues  in  party  strife  ; 
and  a  tariff  act  passed  by  Congress  in  May  was  an  event  which 
commenced  a  serious  division  between  the  North  and  South. 
In  the  early  years  of  Federal  legislation  the  duties  imposed 
were  all  moderate,  and  the  Southern  States  were  as  ready  as 
any  part  of  the  Union  in  extending  protection  to  home  indus 
try,  and  some  of  their  statesmen  were  among  the  foremost  in 
promoting  that  policy.  As  late  as  1816  some  of  the  Southern 
statesmen  were  still  in  favor  of  protection.  After  that  year  the 
tariff  bills  took  a  sectional  aspect :  the  Southern  States,  with 
the  exception  of  the  sugar-planting  interests  in  Louisiana, 
against  them  ;  the  New  England  States  also  against  them  ;  and 
the  Middle  and  Western  States  in  their  favor.  After  the  year 
1824  the  South  alone  was  against  that  policy. 

A  newspaper,  printed  partly  in  English  and  partly  in  the 
Cherokee  language,  named  The  Phcenix,  was  published  at  New 
Echota.  The  types  used  were  furnished  by  the  United  States 
Government. 

A  three-story  brick  house,  on  a  lot  twenty-nine  feet  in  front 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  depth,  with  a  brick  stable  in 
the  rear,  on  Park  Place,  in  New  York,  was  sold  at  public  auc 
tion  on  the  25th  of  October  for  twenty-eight  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  A  lot  on  Wall  Street,  twenty-five 
feet  in  front  and  one  hundred  and  twelve  in  depth,  was  sold  at 
private  sale  at  about  the  same  time,  for  thirty-five  thousand  four 
hundred  dollars.  The  improvements  upon  it  were  of  little 
value. 

An  antiquarian  book-store  was  established  in  Boston,  and  it 
was  the  first  one  of  the  kind  opened  in  this  country. 

The  first  damask  table-linen  manufactured  in  the  United 
States  was  made  this  year  at  Pittsburg. 

The  city  of  New  York  purchased  from  James  Blackwell  the 
island  in  the  East  River  bearing  his  name,  for  the  sum  of  thirty- 
two  thousand  dollars.  The  city  afterwards  was  obliged  to  pay 
an  additional  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  the  release  of 
a  dower  interest  which  was  unexpectedly  discovered  to  be  a 
lien  upon  the  property. 

The  first  edition  of  Webster's  Dictionary  was  published.  It 
was  issued  in  two  volumes,  quarto. 

The  first  periodical  devoted  to  agriculture,  published  south 
of  Baltimore,  was  issued  at  the  city  of  Charleston,  under  the 
title  of  the  Southern  Agriculturist. 

The  first  periodical  exclusively  designed  for  the  tastes  of 


92  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ladies,  issued  in  the  United  States,  was  established  at  Boston,  and 
called  the  Ladies'  Magazine.  It  was  united  with  Godey's  Ladies' 
Book  in  Philadelphia  in  1837. 

The  first  steamboat  belonging  in  Boston  commenced  making 
excursion-trips  in  the  harbor.  It  was  called  the  Benjamin 
Franklin. 

A  premium  was  awarded  by  the  Franklin  Institute  in  Phila 
delphia,  in  October,  for  an  exhibition  of  an  assortment  of  malle 
able-iron  castings  made  by  Seth  Boyden  of  Newark,  N.  J.  It 
was  the  first  attempt  in  this  country,  known  to  the  committee, 
to  anneal  cast-iron  for  general  purposes. 

The  first  manufacture  of  varnish,  except  for  individual  use, 
was  commenced  at  New  York. 

The  first  manufacture,  in  this  country,  of  paper  from  straw 
and  hay  was  commenced  at  Meadville,  Pa.  The  paper  wras  of 
a  yellow  color,  strong  and  smooth,  and  an  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  is  said  to  have  been  printed  upon  it,  which  cost  only 
five  cents  a  copy.  Three  hundred  reams  of  the  paper  were 
shipped  to  Pittsburg  on  the  30th  of  November. 

The  celebrated  planing-machine  patented  by  William  Wood- 
worth  was  introduced,  and  acquired  an  extensive  sale. 

The  first  trip  of  a  locomotive  upon  a  railroad  in  America  was 
made  upon  the  Carbondale  and  Honesdale  Railroad  in  Penn 
sylvania.  The  engine  was  made  in  England,  and  was  run  by 
Mr.  Horatio  Allen,  under  whose  direction  it  had  been  built. 
This  trip  was  made  about  one  year  before  the  first  steam  rail 
road  in  England  was  opened. 

On  the  4th  of  July  the  corner-stone  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  was  laid  at  Baltimore  writh  imposing  ceremonies. 
This  road,  as  well  as  all  other  of  the  early  roads  constructed  in 
this  country,  was  built  of  longitudinal  wooden  rails  pinned 
down  to  cross-ties  of  stone  or  wood  imbedded  in  the  ground, 
with  fiat  bars  of  iron  fastened  with  spikes  placed  on  top  of  the 
wooden  rails.  This  method  of  construction  was  soon  found  to 
involve  great  danger,  and  consequent  expense  ;  the  ends  Of  the 
iron  bars  becoming  loose  and  starting  up,  were  occasionally 
caught  by  the  wheels  and  thrust  up  through  the  bottom  of  the 
car. 

A  boat  passed  in  October  for  the  first  time  through  the  entire 
length  of  the  Blackstone  Canal,  connecting  Worcester  with  Prov 
idence.  The  canal  wras  commenced  in  1826,  and  is  forty-five 
miles  in  length. 

One  ton  of  coal  was  brought  to  Lowell  from  Boston  in  a 
wagon.  It  was  the  first  anthracite  coal  seen  in  the  place,  and 
was  considered  a  sufficient  supply  for  the  Lowell  market  for  a 
whole  year. 

1829     Andrew  Jackson  as  President,  and  John  C.  Calhoun  as  Vice- 
President,  commenced  their  terms  of  office  on  the  4th  of  March. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  the  President  made  one 
hundred  and  seventy-six  appointments  for  office  among  his  po 
litical  adherents,  principally  in  consequence  of  a  general  re 
moval  of  his  political  opponents.  Never  before  had  so  total  a 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  93 

change  been  made  in  the  public  offices,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
executive  was  subjected  to  severe  animadversions.  During 
General  Washington's  administration  of  eight  years  there  were 
but  nine  removals  ;  in  John  Adams'  of  four  years,  only  ten  ;  in 
Jefferson's  of  eight  years,  but  thirty-nine  ;  in  Madison's  of  eight 
years,  but  five  ;  in  Monroe's  of  eight  years,  but  nine ;  and  in 
John  Quincy  Adams'  of  four  years,  only  two. 

A  conflagration  at  Augusta,  Georgia,  on  the  3d  of  April,  de 
stroyed  upwards  of  three  hundred  buildings.  On  the  10th  of 
the  same  month,  one  hundred  buildings,  with  a  large  amount  of 
rice  and  other  products,  were  consumed  by  fire  at  Savannah  ;, 
and  on  the  same  day  the  Lafayette  Theatre  in  New  York,  to 
gether  with  a  large  number  of  other  buildings,  were  burned. 
The  boiler  of  the  steam-frigate  Fulton,  a  receiving-ship  sta 
tioned  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  blew  up  on  the  4th  of 
June,  killing  upwards  of  thirty  persons  and  dangerously  wound 
ing  twenty-three  others. 

The  first  asylum  for  the  blind  in  the  United  States  was 
founded  in  Boston,  and  incorporated  under  the  name  of  the 
New  England  Asylum  for  the  Blind. 

"  Sam  Patch,"  famous  for  his  jumps  at  the  falls  of  the 
Passaic  at  Paterson,  and  later  at  Niagara,  was  killed  on  the 
13th  of  November,  in  jumping  from  the  Genesee  Falls  at 
Rochester.  Many  thousand  persons  were  collected  to  witness 
his  feats. 

The  first  public  school  in  Baltimore  was  opened  on  the  21st 
of  September.  The  first  one  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  was  also  estab 
lished  this  year. 

The  first  daily  newspaper  published  in  Portland,  Me.,  was 
issued  on  the  13th  of  October,  under  the  title  of  the  Daily 
Courier. 

The  following-named  canals  were  completed  this  year:  The 
Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal,  connecting  the  Delaware 
River  with  Chesapeake  Bay;  the  Cumberland  and  Oxford,  in 
Maine;  the  Farmington,  in  Connecticut;  the  Oswego,  con 
necting  Lake  Ontario  with  the  Erie  Canal  at  Salina;  and  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  one  hundred  and  eight  miles  in 
length,  extending  from  Honesdale,  Pa.,  to  the  Hudson  River. 

The  United  States  Mint  at  Philadelphia  was  completed. 

The  first  figured  muslin  woven  on  a  power-loom  in  this  and, 
probably,  in  any  other  country,  was  made,  in  the  summer  of 
this  year,  at  Central  Falls,  R.  I. 

The  use  of  Turkey-red  in  calico-printing,  which  had  for  a 
long  time  given  the  French  an  advantage  over  English  and 
American  prints,  was  this  year  successfully  introduced  by 
manufacturers  at  Lowell. 

The  manufacture  of  penknives  and  pocket-knives,  articles 
hitherto  exclusively  imported,  was  commenced  at  Worcester, 


The  first  manufacture  of  sewing-silk  by  machinery  was 
commenced  at  Mansfield,  Conn. 


94  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  first  manufacture  of  bricks  by  machinery  was  com 
menced  at  the  city  of  New  York. 

Large  establishments  for  the  manufacture  of  fire-bricks  were 
•erected  about  this  time,  and  soon  afterwards  the  importation 
of  those  articles  was  wholly  stopped. 

Galvanized  iron  was  invented,  at  this  time,  by  John  W. 
Revere,  M.D.,  of  New  York,  and  on  the  27th  of  March  the 
result  of  his  experiments  was  laid  before  the  Lyceum  of  Natural 
History,  in  that  city. 

1830  Mormonism  was  founded  this  year,  and  Joseph  Smith,  the 
originator  of  that  sect,  published  his  book  entitled  "  The  Book 
of  Mormon,  an  Account  written  by  the  Hand  of  Mormon,  upon 
Plates  taken  from  the  Plates  of  Nephi."  Smith  professed  to 
have  translated  this  English  version  from  the  original  plates, 
discovered  to  him  by  angels.  This  "  divine  revelation  "  was 
found  to  be  a  corrupt  version  of  a  religious  romance,  called 
"The  Manuscript  Found,"  written,  in  the  year  1809,  by 
Solomon  Spaulding.  A  Mormon  church  was  organized  by 
Smith  at  Manchester,  in  Western  New  York,  on  the  6th  of 
April;  and  at  the  first  conference  held  in  June  about  thirty 
converts  attended.  In  the  following  year  the  Mormons  re 
moved  to  Kirtland,  Ohio. 

A  severe  storm  was  experienced  in  some  parts  of  Tennessee, 
on  the  31st  of  May.  The  town  of  Carthage  was  a  heap  of 
ruins;  almost  every  house  in  the  place  was  destroyed  or  greatly 
damaged.  At  another  town  fifty-three  buildings  were  blown 
dowrn,  killing  five  persons  and  injuring  many  others.  In  July, 
a  heavy  storm  swept  both  sides  of  Lake  Champlain,  continuing 
for  three  days.  The  streams  emptying  into  the  lake  were  so 
swollen  that  mill-dams  and  mills,  iron-works  and  other  factories, 
bridges  and  crops,  were  almost  universally  destroyed. 

Chicago  was  surveyed  and  laid  out  as  a  town,  and  the  map 
recorded  on  the  4th  of  August.  The  first  sale  of  lots  took 
place  in  the  autumn. 

It  was  estimated  there  were  at  this  period  thirteen  hundred 
and  forty-three  miles  of  canal  in  the  United  States  completed, 
eighteen  hundred  miles  more  in  progress,  and  four  hundred 
and  eight  miles  projected. 

The  first  arrival  at  Oswego  of  a  vessel  from  Lake  Erie 
occurred  on  the  3d  of  August,  by  the  Welland  Canal,  now  just 
completed. 

The  first  steam-railroad  that  went  into  operation  in  America, 
designed  for  the  transportation  of  both  passengers  and  merchan 
dise,  was  the  South  Carolina  road,  laid  out  to  connect  Charles 
ton  with  Hamburg,  on  the  Savannah  River,  opposite  the  city 
of  Savannah.  Six  miles  of  the  road  were  completed  in  the 
summer  of  this  year,  and  a  locomotive  was  run  on  it.  This 
locomotive  was  constructed  in  New  York,  and  was  the  first  one 
built  in  this  country.  It  was  a  small  four-wheeled  engine,  with 
upright  boiler  and  the  flues  close  to  the  bottom,  the  flames 
circulating  around  them.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  this  road 
was  designed  and  wholly  constructed,  for  the  use  of  locomo- 


HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.  95 

tives,  upon  the  advice  of  Mr.  Horatio  Allen,  before  they  were 
known  in  this  country,  or  established  in  Great  Britain.  The 
road  was  built  upon  piles,  and  some  of  the  swamps  and  rivers 
were  crossed  at  an  elevation  of  fifty  feet. 

The  Hudson  and  Mohawk  Railroad,  connecting  Albany  with 
Schenectady,  was  commenced. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  fourteen  miles  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  were  completed  and  opened  for  use. 

The  first  telescope  used  in  this  country  for  astronomical 
purposes  was  set  up  at  Yale  College. 

Charles  Kean,  the  celebrated  actor,  arrived  in  this  country, 
and  commenced  his  first  engagement  at  the  Park  Theatre,  in 
New  York,  on  the  1st  of  September. 

The  first  penny  paper  published  in  Philadelphia  was  issued 
under  the  title  of  The  Cent.  It  had  but  a  brief  existence. 

The  Christian  Intelligencer,  an  organ  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  made  its  first  appearance  at  New  York.  The  Boston 
Transcript  appeared  at  Boston,  in  July,  and  the  Globe  at 
Washington,  in  December.  The  Albany  Evening  Journal  was 
also  established  this  year. 

The  first  omnibus  in  New  York  commenced  running  this 
year.  It  had  the  word  "Omnibus"  painted  in  large  letters  on 
both  sides,  and  was  a  puzzle  to  most  pedestrians,  who  pro 
nounced  it  variously.  The  name  was  generally  supposed  to  be 
that  of  the  owner. 

The  first  Fourdrinier  machine,  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
paper,  made  in  this  country  was  built  at  Windham,  Conn. 
Very  few  were  afterwards  imported. 

1831  A  negro  insurrection  broke  out  in  Virginia,  near  the  North 
Carolina  border.  It  started  with  a  party  of  three  white  men 
and  four  slaves,  who  commenced  killing  several  families,  and 
impressing  into  their  service  all  slaves  on  their  route,  until 
a  force  of  nearly  two  hundred  accumulated,  spreading  desola 
tion  everywhere  in  their  path.  Fifty-five  white  persons  were 
murdered  before  the  insurrection  was  quelled.  Troops  were 
called  out  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
who  succeeded  in  killing  or  capturing  all  the  insurgents.  Fear 
ing  that  this  outbreak  was  but  a  part  of  a  grand  conspiracy  of 
the  negroes  generally,  martial  law  was  proclaimed  in  many 
places,  and  every  negro  who  could  not  give  a  satisfactory  ac 
count  of  himself  was  arrested.  In  South  Carolina  the  "  Vigi 
lance  Association  of  Columbia"  offered  a  reward  of  one  thou 
sand  dollars  for  the  apprehension  and  conviction  of  any  person 
who  should  be  detected  in  distributing  or  circulating  in  that 
State  the  abolition  paper  called  the  Liberator,  published  in  Bos 
ton,  or  the  pamphlet  called  "  Walker's  Pamphlet,"  or  any  other 
publication  of  a  seditious  tendency. 

Chloroform  was  discovered  this  year  by  Dr.  Samuel  Guthrie 
of  Sackett's  Harbor,  N.  Y.  It  was  at  first  used  only  as  a  medi 
cine,  and  its  valuable  qualities  were  not  perceived  until  some 
time  later. 

A  conflagration  destroyed  the  town  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C., 


96  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

on  the  29th  of  May;  only  a  few  buildings  on  the  outskirts  es 
caped.  All  the  public  buildings,  and  about  six  hundred  pri 
vate  houses,  were  consumed,  with  their  contents. 

Groton  monument,  on  Groton  Heights,  opposite  New  Lon 
don,  was  completed. 

A  three-story  house  and  lot,  on  the  corner  of  Pine  and  Wil 
liam  streets,  in  New  York,  was  sold  for  twenty -two  thousand 
dollars,  in  October.  The  lot  was  twenty-eight  feet  on  Pine 
and  sixty-eight  on  William  Street. 

The  first  sporting  paper  published  in  the  United  States  was 
issued  at  New  York,  and  called  The  Spirit  of  the  Times, 

The  Louisville  Journal  appeared  in  Louisville,  Ky. ;  and  on 
the  9th  of  November  the  Daily  Morning  Post,  at  Boston. 

The  first  passage  of  boats  on  the  Morris  Canal,  between  New 
ark,  N.  J. ,  and  the  Delaware  River,  was  made  in  November. 

The  great  Pennsylvania  line  of  improvements,  connecting 
Philadelphia  with  Pittsburg,  commenced  in  1826,  \vas  com 
pleted  in  March.  This  line  comprised  eighty-two  miles  of  rail 
road  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia;  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  miles  of  canal  from  Columbia  to  Hollidaysburg;  thirty-six 
miles  of  railroad  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  Johnstown; 
and  one  hundred  and  five  miles  of  canal  thence  to  Pittsburg. 
The  line  of  railroad  over  the  mountains  consisted  of  a  series  of 
inclined  planes,  and  was  worked  by  stationary  engines.  These 
improvements  were  built  by  the  State,  and  cost  upwards  of 
twelve  millions  of  dollars. 

The  Hudson  and  Mohawk  Railroad,  between  Albany  and 
Schenectady,  was  opened  for  travel  on  the  1st  of  September. 
This  road  was  first  designed  to  be  worked  by  horse-power,  with 
the  exception  of  two  inclined  planes,  where  stationary  engines 
were  to  be  employed.  Before  its  completion  it  was  decided  to 
substitute  steam-power,  and  a  locomotive  was  ordered  to  be 
built  for  it  at  New  York,  which  was  used  on  the  first  trip  at 
the  opening  of  the  road,  and  ran  the  distance  of  sixteen  miles 
in  forty-six  minutes.  Pine  wood  was  used  for  fuel. 

The  first  railroad  built  in  Virginia  was  opened.  It  was  con 
structed  for  the  transportation  of  coal  from  the  mines  near 
James  River  to  Manchester,  opposite  Richmond,  a  distance  of 
thirteen  miles.  The  first  railroad  in  Louisiana  was  opened  on 
the  23d  of  April,  and  connected  New  Orleans  with  Lake  Ppn- 
chartrain,  a  distance  of  four  and  a  half  miles.  Its  construction 
across  the  swamp  was  considered  a  great  feat  of  engineering. 

Six  miles  of  the  Baltimore  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  were 
completed  and  opened  on  the  4th  of  July.  The  cars  were 
drawn  by  horses.  In  the  next  year  sixteen  miles  were  opened, 
at  which  time  steam-power  was  adopted. 

The  construction  of  the  Harlem  and  the  Ithaca  and  Owego 
railroads  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  of  the  Lexington  and 
Ohio  in  Kentucky,  was  commenced. 

The  important  arrangement  of  four-wheeled  trucks  for  cars 
was  introduced  on  the  South  Carolina  Railroad,  and  were  the 
first  car-trucks  used  in  this  or  any  other  country. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  97 

1832  Upon  the  passage  of  a  tariff  bill  by  Congress  in  July,  the 
representatives  of  South  Carolina  issued  an  address  to  the  peo 
ple  of  that  State,  asserting  that,  by  the  act  passed,  the  burden 
of  government  was  thrown  exclusively  on  the  Southern  States, 
and  meetings  were  held  in  South  Carolina,  denouncing  the 
tariff,  and  pledging  the  persons  attending  to  support  the  State 
government  in  any  measures  it  might  adopt  to  resist  it.  In  De 
cember  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  acts  prohibit 
ing  the  enforcement  of  the  United  States  revenue  laws  within 
the  State,  and  authorizing  the  governor  to  call  the  militia  into 
service  to  resist  any  attempt  of  the  national  government  to  en 
force  them.  Ten  thousand  stand  of  arms,  and  the  requisite 
quantity  of  military  munitions,  were  ordered  to  be  purchased. 
At  this  crisis  the  President  determined  to  enforce  the  revenue 
acts,  with  an  entire  disregard  to  the  pretended  rights  of  sover 
eignty  which  were  assumed  by  the  State  of  South  Carolina, 
and  he,  accordingly,  ordered  all  the  disposable  military  force 
to  assemble  at  Charleston,  and  a  sloop  of  war  to  be  scut  to  that 
port  to  protect  the  revenue  officers,  in  case  of  necessity,  in  the 
execution  of  their  duty.  On  the  10th  of  December,  the  Presi 
dent  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  plainly  and  forcibly 
stated  the  nature  of  the  American  government,  and  the  supre 
macy  of  the  Federal  authorities  in  all  matters  intrusted  to  their 
care,  and  exhorted  the  citizens  of  South  Carolina  not  to  persist 
in  a  course  which  must  bring  upon  their  State  the  force  of  the 
confederacy,  and  expose  the  Union  to  the  hazard  of  dissolu 
tion.  The  revenue  laws  under  the  protection  of  the  United 
States  forces  were  carried  into  effect  without  any  opposition  by 
violence,  and,  at  a  meeting  of  the  leading  milliners  at  Charles 
ton,  it  was  resolved  that  all  collision  between  the  State  and 
Federal  authorities  should  be  avoided,  in  the  hope  that  the  con 
troversy  might  be  satisfactorily  adjusted  in  Congress  by  the 
passage  of  bills  modifying  the  tariff.  That  hope  was  realized, 
and  the  tariff  controversy  in  South  Carolina  ended. 

At  the  presidential  election  of  this  year  the  Democratic  party 
voted  for  General  Andrew  Jackson  for  re-election  as  President, 
and  Martin  Van  Buren  for  Vice-President ,  and  those  candidates 
were  successful;  General  Jackson  receiving  two  hundred  and 
nineteen  electoral  votes,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  one  hundred  and 
eighty-nine.  At  this  time  an  Anti-Masonic  party  had  been  in 
stituted,  which  nominated  William  Wirt  for  President  and 
Amos  Ellmaker  for  Vice-President,  and  they  received  seven 
electoral  votes.  The  old  Federal  party  had  gone  out  of  exist 
ence,  and  the  opponents  of  the  administration  were  now  de 
nominated  National  Republicans.  That  party  nominated  Henry 
Clay  for  President,  and  John  Sergeant  for  Vice-President,  and 

•  they  each  received  forty-nine  votes.  The  State  of  South  Caro 
lina  gave  its  eleven  electoral  votes  to  John  Floyd  for  President 
and  Henry  Lee  for  Vice-President. 

A  war  broke  out  in  Illinois  between  the  Indians  and  the 
whites.  In  the  year  1830,  some  Indians  of  the  tribe  of  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes — two  tribes  united  in  one — made  some  depredations 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE    UXITED    STATES. 

on  the  white  settlers  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  River.  In  conse 
quence  the  United  States  Government  made  a  treaty  with  Keo- 
kuk,  the  chief  of  that  tribe,  by  which  he  agreed  to  remove  with 
his  Indians  across  the  Mississippi.  Black  Hawk,  a  noted  war 
rior,  however,  refused  to  recognize  the  authority  of  Keokuk  to 
make  that  treaty,  and,  with  many  of  the  Indians,  declined  to  re 
move  from  Illinois.  He  gathered  about  him  all  the  restless 
spirits  of  the  tribe,  set  himself  up  as  their  chief,  and  commenced 
depredations  on  the  white  settlements.  Troops  were  called  out 
by  the  governor,  and  the  United  States  Government  sent  de 
tachments  of  the  army  to  assist  in  breaking  up  the  war.  Suc 
cessive  engagements  were  fought,  with  various  success,  and 
many  atrocities  committed  by  the  savages.  On  the  2d  of  Au 
gust,  a  battle  took  place  with  the  main  body  of  the  Indians, 
which  closed  hostilities.  The  Indians  were  defeated  with 
great  loss,  and  Black  Hawk,  with  his  two  sons  and  seven  other 
warriors,  were  captured,  and  sent  prisoners  to  Fortress  Mon 
roe,  Va. 

The  source  of  the  Mississippi  was  discovered  on  the  13th  of 
July  by  an  exploring  expedition  under  the  command  of  Henry 
R.  Schoolcraft. 

The  Asiatic  cholera,  which  had  been  devastating  Montreal 
and  Quebec  for  some  time,  made  its  first  appearance  in  the 
United  States  at  the  city  of  New  York -on  the  21st  of  June. 
The  disease  spread  in  various  directions,  reaching  Philadelphia, 
Albany,  and  Rochester  in  July,  and  Boston,  Baltimore,  and 
Washington  in  August.  In  October  it  reached  New  Orleans, 
having  previously  appeared  at  Cincinnati  and  the  intermediate 
cities.  In  Quebec,  Montreal,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  alone, 
there  were  eighteen  thousand  cases  and  eight  thousand  deaths. 

A  disastrous  flood  swept  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  in  February. 
The  water  continued  to  rise  from  the  7th  to  the  19th,  when  it 
attained  the  height  of  sixty-three  feet  above  low-water  mark  at 
Cincinnati.  The  towns  and  villages  along  the  banks  of  the 
river  were  submerged  in  some  instances  so  deeply  as  to  force 
the  inhabitants  to  take  refuge  on  the  neighboring  hills.  It  was 
impossible  to  make  any  accurate  estimate  of  the  value  of  the 
property  destroyed. 

The  steamboat  Brandywine  took  fire  on  the  evening  of 
the  9th  of  April,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  near  Memphis, 
and  of  about  two  hundred  persons  on  board  all  but  seventy- 
five  perished  in  the  flames  or  by  drowning. 

The  first  instance  of  chloroform  being  used  by  inhalation 
was  at  New  Haven  in  January. 

The  renowned  gymnasCs  and  pantomimists,  the  Ravel  family, 
made  their  first  appearance  in  America,  at  the  Park  Theatre  in 
New  York,  on  the  16th  of  July.  The  popularity  of  this  troupe 
continued  undiminished  for  more  than  thirty  years. 

Charles  Kemble,  the  celebrated  comedian,  and  Fanny  Kem- 
ble,  equally  celebrated  as  an  actress,  made  their  first  appear 
ance  in  America,  at  the  Park  Theatre  in  New  York,  on  the  17th 
of  September. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  99 

The  manufacture  of  hosiery  by  steam  or  water  power  was 
first  commenced  in  this  country  in  October,  at  Cohoes,  N.  Y. 

The  first  steamboat  seen  at  Chicago  arrived  there  on  the  10th 
of  July,  having  on  board  General  Winfield  Scott  and  United 
States  troops  destined  for  the  scene  of  the  Black  Hawk  war. 

The  first  house  built  in  Iowa  was  erected  this  year  near  the 
site  of  the  city  of  Davenport. 

The  Paterson  and  Jersey  City  Railroad,  the  Schenectady  and 
Saratoga,  the  West  Chester  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Philadelphia, 
Germantown  and  Norristown,  and  the  Louisville  and  Bards- 
town  railroads  were  all  completed  this  year.  On  the  15th  of 
November,  Philadelphia  and  Harrisburg  were  connected  by  a 
continuous  line  of  railroad.  Operations  were  commenced  on 
the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  in  August. 

The  first  street  railroad  in  America  was  completed  between 
the  City  Hall  and  Fourteenth  Street  in  New  York,  and  opened 
for  travel  in  November.  The  road  was  built  by  the  Harlem 
Railroad  Company,  and  some  tune  afterwards  was  extended  up 
Fourth  Avenue. 

1833     Andrew  Jackson,  as  President,  and  Martin  Van  Buren,  Vice- 
President,  commenced  their  terms  of  office  on  the  4th  of  March. 

There  ensued  great  commercial  distress  throughout  the 
country  this  year,  caused  by  a  general  system  of  retrenchment 
that  the  directors  of  the  United  States  Bank  were  obliged  to 
institute,  with  a  view  to  safety  on  account  of  an  evident  existing 
hostility  to  that  corporation.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  was  particularly  opposed  to  the  bank,  and  he  caused  all 
the  public  deposits,  amounting  to  nearly  ten  millions  of  dollars, 
to  be  withdrawn  from  it,  the  greater  part  of  which  within  a 
period  of  four  months.  Almost  simultaneously  with  this  step 
an  attempt  was  made  to  destroy  the  credit  of  the  bank,  by  sud 
denly  presenting  for  payment  at  one  of  the  distant  branches  a 
large  amount  of  circulating  notes  which  had  been  secretly 
accumulated. 

Emigrations  were  made  to  Iowa  this  year.  From  this  time 
the  progress  and  extension  of  settlements  in  that  district  were 
rapid,  and  the  population  increased  with  far  greater  rapidity 
than  in  any  new  Territory  heretofore. 

The  town  of  Chicago  was  incorporated  on  the  10th  of  Au 
gust.  At  that  time  there  were  one  hundred  and  seventy -five 
houses  and  five  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants.  The  first  news 
paper  published  in  the  place  was  issued  on  the  26th  of  Novem 
ber,  under  the  name  of  The  Democrat.  The  first  church  organ 
ized  was  formed  on  the  26th  of  June,  by  the  Presbyterians 
belonging  to  the  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn.  On  the  19th  of 
October,  a  Baptist  society  was  formed. 

Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania  passed  laws  for 
the  suppression  of  lotteries. 

The  United  States  Treasury  building  at  Washington  was 
consumed  by  fire  on  the  31st  of  March.  Nearly  all  the  valu 
able  papers  contained  in  it  were  saved. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  extensive  stables 


100  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  Kipp  &  Brown  on  Hudson  and  Bank  streets,  in  New  York, 
and  spread  until  over  one  hundred  and  thirty  buildings  were 
consumed.  It  was  estimated  that  three  hundred  families  were 
thereby  rendered  homeless. 

The  city  of  Boston  contracted  for  sperm-oil  for  street-lamps, 
— ninety  cents  per  gallon  for  summer  oil  and  one  dollar  for 
winter. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  was  supplied  with  water  conveyed  hi  pipes 
through  the  streets. 

The  first  theatre  erected  in  the  United  States  expressly  for 
operatic  performances  was  opened  on  the  18th  of  November. 
It  was  built  on  the  corner  of  Church  and  Leonard  streets,  in 
New  York;  but  the  enterprise  proved  a  failure,  and  the  building 
was  used  for  theatrical  purposes  until  it  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  the  year  1841. 

Millerism,  as  it  was  called,  commenced  making  converts  at 
this  time.  William  Miller  began  to  lecture  upon  the  subjects 
of  the  millennium  and  the  early  destruction  of  the  world,  which 
he  at  first  stated  would  take  place  in  1843.  He  secured  disci 
ples,  who  were  called  Millerites,  to  the  number,  as  estimated,  of 
nearly  fifty  thousand.  After  the  failure  of  his  predictions, 
several  years  and  days  were  successively  designated  for  the 
destruction  of  the  world,  and  the  sect  existed  for  many  years. 

The  first  exportation  of  American  ice  to  the  East  Indies  was 
made  by  Mr.  Frederick  Tudor,  of  Boston.  It  was  sent  in 
May,  and  delivered  at  Calcutta  in  the  autumn.  In  the  follow 
ing  year  he  sent  the  first  cargo  to  Brazil. 

At  this  time  there  were  seventy -six  omnibuses  running  in  the 
streets  of  New  York,  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  licensed 
hackney-coaches,  twenty-four  hundred  and  fifty-nine  carts,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty -seven  porters  with  either  barrows  or 
hand-carts. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  lots,  each 
twenty-five  feet  front  and  one  hundred  in  depth,  on  Prospect 
Hill  in  Brooklyn,  L.  I.,  three  miles  from  Fulton  Ferry,  were 
sold  at  an  average  price  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
-apiece. 

The  first  public  trial  of  reaping-machines  took  place  on  the 
2d  of  July,  before  the  Hamilton  County  Agricultural  Society 
in  Ohio.  The  exhibition  was  of  the  machine  patented  by  Mr. 
Obed  Hussey. 

The  first  newspaper  issued  in  Wisconsin  was  published  at 
Navarino  on  the  llth  of  December,  and  called  The  Green  Bay 
Intelligencer.  The  Boston  Daily  Journal  made  its  first  appear 
ance  this  year.  The  first  successful  penny  paper  established  in 
the  United  States  issued  its  first  number  on  the  8th  of  Septem 
ber  at  New  York,  and  was  called  The  New  York  Sun. 

The  progress  of  enterprise  in  American  journalism  took  a  step 
forward  this  year.  The  New  Yoi*k  Journal  of  Commerce  estab 
lished  a  horse  express  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  with 
relays  of  horses,  by  which  the  paper  was  enabled  to  publish 
Congressional  news  one  day  in  advance  of  its  contemporaries  in 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  101 

New  York.  This  example  was  soon  followed  by  other  papers, 
until  the  government  itself  established  an  express  between  those 
cities,  whereupon  the  Journal  of  Commerce  extended  its  relays 
to  Washington. 

The  constitution  of  Massachusetts  was  amended,  making  the 
individual  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  volun 
tary,  instead  of  obligatory  as  they  had  always  been  for  about 
two  hundred  years. 

The  Ohio  Canal,  connecting  the  Ohio  River  at  Portsmouth 
with  Lake  Erie  at  Cleveland,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and 
seven  miles,  was  completed  and  opened  for  navigation. 

The  South  Carolina  Railroad  between  Charleston  and  the 
Savannah  River,  one  hundred  and  thirty- six  miles  in  length, 
was  entirely  completed.  This  was  the  first  railroad  upon  which 
the  United  States  mails  were  carried,  and  the  longest  continuous 
line  yet  completed  in  this  or  any  other  country.  The  Camden 
and  Amboy  Railroad,  between  Am  boy  and  Bordentown,  N.  J., 
was  opened  for  travel  in  September.  The  Petersburg  and  Ro- 
anoke  Railroad  in  Virginia,  about  sixty  miles  in  length,,  was 
also  completed.  The  ceremony  of  breaking  ground  for  the 
commencement  of  the  Providence  and  Stonington  Railroad  took 
place  at  Stonington  on  the  14th  of  August. 

1834  An  unusual  excitement  and  tumult  took  place  in  New  York, 
ending  in  a  riot,  at  the  city  election  held  on  the  8th,  9th,  and 
10th  days  of  April,  caused  by  a  bitter  feeling  existing  between 
the  Jackson  men  and  their  political  opponents,  who  at  this  time 
were  called  by  the  new  party  name  of  "  whigs."  Great  confusion 
and  violence  ensued;  political  meetings  were  disturbed  and  brok 
en  up,  and  in  the  Sixth  and  Eleventh  wards  proceedings  were  so 
riotous  that  the  military  were  called  out  to  quell  the  disturbances. 
Many  of  the  citizens  were  dangerously  injured,  and  several  of  the 
rioters  were  arrested  and  imprisoned.  Citizens  remained  under 
arms  all  night,  fearing  that  the  banks  would  be  sacked,  as  an  at 
tack  on  them  was  loudly  threatened.  Business  was  almost  entire 
ly  suspended  in  Wall  and  other  down-town  streets.  The  election 
resulted  in  favor  of  the  "  whigs,"  and  the  victory  was  celebrat 
ed  by  that  party  in  many  sections  of  the  country.  Salutes  were 
fired,  and  other  demonstrations  of  rejoicing  were  manifested. 
In  Philadelphia,  a  grand  barbecue  was  instituted,  and  fifty 
thousand  people  attended,  as  estimated. 

A  meeting  of  the  American  Anti- Slavery  Society  held  in  New 
York  on  the  4th  of  July  was  broken  up  by  a  mob.  A  few 
days  afterwards  another  mob  sacked  the  house  of  Lewis  Tap- 
pan,  a  noted  abolitionist,  and  then  assaulted  and  damaged 
several  churches,  school -houses,  and  homes  of  colored  families. 
The  anti-abolition  excitement  spread  to  other  places.  At  New 
ark,  N.  J.,  on  the  evening  of  the  llth  of  July,  a  minister 
introduced  a  colored  man  into  his  pulpit,  against  the  previously 
ascertained  will  of  his  people.  When  the  populace  found  it 
out,  they  assembled  in  great,  numbers,  took  the  colored  man 
forcibly  from  the  pulpit,  conveyed  him  to  jail,  and  threatened  to 
tear  it  down  unless  the  jailer  received  him.  They  then  re- 


102  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

turned  to  the  church,  broke  the  windows,  tore  down  the  pulpit, 
and  reduced  the  edifice  to  a  shell.  In  Norwich,  Conn.,  a  mob, 
headed  by  a  band  of  music,  entered  a  church  where  a  lecture 
was  being  delivered  by  an  abolitionist,  forcibly  took  the  lecturer 
from  the  pulpit,  and  forced  him  to  march  before  them,  at  the 
same  time  playing  the  Rogue's  March,  till  they  drummed  him  out 
of  the  town.  In  Philadelphia,  a  riot  commenced  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  13th  of  August,  and  continued  for  three  nights. 
Forty -four  houses  inhabited  by  blacks  were  assaulted,  damaged, 
and  many  of  them  destroyed.  Other  similar  demonstrations 
occurred  in  several  places  in  different  sections  of  the  country. 

A  report  having  been  circulated  in  Boston  that  a  girl  was 
confined  against  her  will  in  a  convent  of  Ursuline  nuns  at 
Charlestown,  great  excitement  was  manifested  in  the  city,  and 
soon  prevailed  in  the  neighboring  towrns.  On  the  night  of  the 
llth  of  August,  a  large  number  of  persons,  disguise  din  fantas 
tic  costumes,  assembled  before  the  convent,  and  after  waking 
and  warning  the  inmates  to  make  their  escape,  made  an  assault 
on  the  house.  The  doors  and  windows  were  forced  open,  the 
furniture  broken,  and  the  building  set  on  fire  and  destroyed ; 
other  buildings  belonging  to  the  convent  were  also  burned. 
The  cemetery  was  then  visited  and  the  graves  wrere  desecrated. 
The  next  day  a  large  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  was  held 
in  Faneuil  Hall  to  express  their  indignation  at  the  outrage,  and 
prompt  measures  were  instituted  to  discover  the  perpetrators. 
Several  persons  were  arrested,  but  were  released  for  want  of 
proof,  and  only  one  suffered  conviction. 

Congress  passed  an  act  to  establish  branch  mints  at  New  Or 
leans,  Dahlonega,  Ga.,  and  at  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

The  earliest  emigrations  of  settlers  to  Oregon  commenced  at 
this  period. 

The  streets  of  New  Orleans  were  lighted  with  gas  for  the  first 
time. 

At  this  period  but  one  mail  a  week  arrived  at  Chicago  from 
the  East,  and  that  was  brought  from  Niles,  Mich.,  on  horse 
back. 

Brooklyn,  L.  I. ,  was  incorporated  as  a  city,  and  the  first  mayor 
and  other  city  officers  elected.  Rochester  was  also  incorporated, 
and  Burlington  in  Iowa  laid  out  as  a  town. 

The  wholesale  clothing  business  in  the  United  States  was 
first  commenced  in  the  city  of  New  York  at  this  time. 

The  first  steam-power  printing-press  set  up  at  the  West  was 
established  at  Cincinnati,  for  the  publication  of  the  Gazette. 

The  first  gun  rifled  in  the  United  States  was  accomplished  at 
South  Boston,  Mass. 

Hammered-brass  kettles  began  at  this  time  to  be  manufactured 
in  this  country  at  Wolcottville,  Conn. 

Wood- screws,  for  the  first  time  manufactured  by  machinery, 
were  made  at  Providence. 

The  first  table  cutlery  of  American  manufacture  was  made 
in  January,  at  Greenfield,  Mass. 

The  New  Jersey  Railroad,  from  Jersey  City  to  New  Brims- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  103 

wick,  was  completed.  The  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad 
was  opened  for  travel  on  the  1st  of  November. 
1835  Riotous  demonstrations  continued  to  be  exhibited  in  various 
sections  of  the  Northern  States  against  the  blacks  and  the  abo 
litionists;  churches  and  public  halls  were  assaulted,  and  anti- 
slavery  speakers  rudely  handled.  Great  excitement  prevailed 
at  the  South,  in  consequence  of  the  circulation  there  of  papers 
and  pamphlets  sent  by  the  different  antislavery  societies  at  the 
North.  On  the  29th  of  July,  the  post-office  at  Charleston  was 
forced  by  a  mob,  the  mails  rifled,  and  all  autislavery  publi 
cations  destroyed. 

Great  attention  was  excited  throughout  the  country  by  publi 
cations  in  the  newspapers  of  interesting  discoveries  concerning 
the  moon,  made  by  means  of  a  newly  invented  telescope, 
which,  when  the  facts  became  known,  were  designated  as  the 
"Moon  Hoax."  Richard  Adams  Locke,  the  editor  of  the 
New  York  Sun,  wrote  an  article  in  that  paper  which  purported 
to  be  an  account  of  discoveries  made  by  Sir  John  F.  W.  Her- 
schel  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  pretended  to  be  taken 
from  a  late  number  of  an  Edinburgh  journal,  in  which  the 
author  proceeded  to  delineate  the  geographical  features  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  moon  with  graphic  power  and  such  show  of 
probability,  that  the  gravest  journals  accepted  the  account  as 
actual  fact.  The  papers  throughout  the  country  copied  the  ar 
ticle,  and  commented  upon  the  wonderful  discoveries,  which, 
for  the  time,  created  much  speculation  and  wonder.  The  dis 
covery  of  the  hoax  excited  general  merriment,  and  more  so 
against  those  journals  which,  hoping  to  gain  credit  for  enter 
prise,  had  pretended  to  have  copied  the  article  themselves  from 
the  Edinburgh  journal. 

The  President,  in  his  Message,  announced  the  extinguishment 
of  the  national  debt.  The  duties  on  imports  and  the  sale  of 
the  public  lands  had  produced  the  money  for  that  purpose. 

The  resources  of  the  State  of  Ohio  had  been  greatly  devel 
oped  within  the  preceding  five  years.  The  State,  at  this  time, 
contained  a  population  of  about  one  million.  One  hundred 
and  twenty-five  newspapers  were  established  in  sixty-five 
towns.  Cincinnati  was  seven  days  distant  from  Pittsburg, 
fourteen  from  New  York,  and  twenty-one  from  New  Or 
leans. 

Miss  Charlotte  Cushman  made  her  first  appearance  on  the 
stage  at  the  Tremont  Theatre  in  Boston,  on  the  8th  of  April, 
in  the  character  of  the  "  Countess"  in  the  marriage  of  Figaro. 
She  made  a  great  success,  and  her  popularity  as  an  actress  con 
tinued  more  than  forty  years. 

The  first  house  at  Yerba  Buena,  the  germ  of  San  Francisco, 
was  built. 

At  this  period  the  residents  of  Harlem  and  Yorkville,  at  the 
upper  portion  of  New  York  Island,  could  reach  the  city  by 
public  conveyance  only,  uufrequently,  by  using  a  stage-coach 
plying  between  New  York  and  Danbury,  Conn.  An  hourly 
stage  between  the  city  and  Harlem  was  established  this  year,  at 


104  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

a  charge  to  Yorkvttle  of  eighteen  and  three  quarter  cents,  and 
to  Harlem  of  twenty-five. 

The  New  York  Herald  issued  its  first  number  on  the  6th  of 
May,  from  its  office  of  publication  in  the  cellar  of  No.  20  Wall 
street.  The  editor,  Mr.  Bennett,  was  his  own  reporter  of  the 
police  news,  of  the  city  items,  and  of  the  money  market. 
This  latter  department  was  the  first  of  the  kind  published  in 
America. 

The  manufacture  of  mineral  teeth  for  the  market  was  first 
established  in  the  United  States  about  this  time,  by  D.  W. 
Stockton  of  Philadelphia. 

The  manufacture   of  horse-shoes  by  machinery  was  estab 
lished  at  Troy.     Up  to  this  date  they  were  made  only  by  hand. 
At  this  period  there  were  but  two  manufactories  of  hair-cloth 
in  the  country.     One  of  these,  the  first  in  New  England,  was 
but  recently  started  at  Deerfield,  Mass. 

The  first  manufacture  of  pins  by  machinery  was  commenced 
at  New  York  in  December,  by  a  company  called  the  Howe 
Manufacturing  Company,  from  the  name  of  the  inventor  of 
the  machines. 

About  this  period  an  improvement  was  made  in  the  manu 
facture  of  hosiery,  which,  with  the  introduction  of  the 
power-loom,  in  1832,  gave  rise  to  the  establishment  of  that 
business  on  an  extensive  scale  in  this  country.  This  new  in 
vention  consisted  in  knitting  the  goods  in  one  continuous  circu 
lar  web.  Heretofore  they  were  knit  in  strips,  cut  up  into 
proper  lengths,  and  the  circle  formed  by  sewing  the  web 
lengthwise. 

The  first  tiles  for  draining  purposes  are  said  to  have  been 
made  this  year,  near  Geneva,  N.  Y. 

Samuel  Colt  secured  a  patent  for  the  famous  revolving  pis 
tol  bearing  his  name. 

A  fire-department  was  organized  at  Chicago  on  the  19th  of 
September,  and  two  fire-engines  and  one  thousand  feet  of  hose 
ordered.  In  December,  the  first  bank  in  the  place  went  into 
operation.  The  first  fire-engine  in  Indianapolis  arrived  there 
in  September  from  Philadelphia. 

A  conflagration  occurred  on  the  night  of  the  16th  of  December 
at  Newr  York,  in  the  business  part  of  the  city  devoted  principally 
to  the  wholesale  dry-goods  trade,  destroying  about  seven  hundred 
buildings,  and  involving  a  loss  of,  as  estimated,  seventeen  mil 
lions  of  dollars.  All  insurance  companies  failed,  excepting 
two,  that  insured  in  that  district,  the  loss  absorbing  their  entire 
assets,  inflicting  distress  upon  a  class  of  people  owning  the 
stocks  who  relied  upon  the  dividends  for  support, — such  as 
widows  and  orphans, — which  increased  the  extent  of  the  catas 
trophe.  The  burned  district  covered  an  area  of  about  fifty 
acres,  in  which  only  one  store  escaped  entire.  It  embraced  the 
blocks  from  Coffee  House  Slip  along  South  Street  to  Coenties' 
Slip,  thence  to  near  Broad  Street,  along  William  to  Wall,  and 
down  the  south  side  of  that  street  to  the  East  River. 
A  rage  on  the  subject  of  silk-culture  was  developed  in  many 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  105 

sections  of  the  country  at  this  time,  particularly  in  New  Eng 
land.  Congress  and  several  of  the  State  legislatures,  within 
the  past  few  years,  had  promoted  the  growing  interest  n  that 
business  by  means  of  publications,  bounties,  and  other  meas 
ures.  Large  profits  were  realized  by  some  in  the  sale  of  young 
mulberry- trees,  and  large  numbers  of  persons  were  induced  to 

fo  into  the  business  of    raising  silk.     The  speculative  fever 
isted  several  years,  and  many  fortunes  were  made  and  lost  in 
the  business. 

The  Boston  and  Providence  Railroad  was  opened  for  travel 
on  the  2d  of  June  ;  the  Boston  and  Lowell,  on  the  27th  of 
June  ;  the  Boston  and  Worcester,  on  the  6th  of  July  ;  and  the 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  on  the  25th  of  August.  The  New 
York  and  Erie  was  commenced  on  the  7th  of  November. 
il836  The  presidential  election,  this  year,  was  warmly  contested. 
The  Democratic  party  nominated  Martin  Van  Buren  for  Presi 
dent,  and  Richard  M.  Johnson  for  Vice-President.  The  oppo 
sition  party  now  took  the  name  of  Whig.  There  were  different 
sections  of  this  combination,  and  although  they  were  unable  to 
unite  upon  a  single  candidate,  they  were  in  hopes  of  defeating 
the  election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  by  throwing  the  final  choice  in 
to  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  result  of  the  election 
was  as  follows :  For  President,  Martin  Van  Buren,  who  re 
ceived  one  hundred  and  seventy  electoral  votes ;  William  H. 
Harrison,  seventy -three  ;  Hugh  L.  White,  twenty-six  ;  Daniel 
Webster,  fourteen ;  and  W.  P.  Mangum,  eleven.  For  Vice- 
President,  Richard  M.  Johnson  received  one  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  votes ;  Francis  Granger,  seventy-seven  ;  John  Tyler, 
forty-seven  ;  and  William  Smith,  twenty-three.  Martin  Van 
Buren  received  a  sufficient  number  of  electoral  votes  for  elec 
tion  ;  but  by  the  terms  of  the  Constitution,  there  was  no  choice 
of  Vice  President,  in  which  case  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
was  designated  to  make  it.  By  the  vote  in  that  body  Richard 
M.  Johnson  was  elected,  he  receiving  thirty-three  votes  against 
sixteen  given  Mr.  Granger. 

Arkansas  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  15th  of  June, 
with  a  constitution  permitting  slavery  within  the  State. 

Texas  rebelled  against  the  Mexican  authorities,  and,  on  the 
2d  of  March,  proclaimed  her  independence  and  adopted  a  re 
publican  form  of  government. 

Wisconsin  was  organized  under  a  territorial  government, 
with  jurisdiction  over  the  "  District  of  Iowa."  The  latter  Ter 
ritory,  at  this  time,  had  a  population  of  ten  thousand  five  hun- 
•dred.  Madison  was  made  the  capital  of  Wisconsin,  and  was 
situated  in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness.  The  settlement  of  Janes- 
ville  in  Wisconsin,  and  of  Davenport  in  Iowa,  was  com 
menced. 

The  office  of  The  Philanthropist,  an  abolition  paper  published 
in  Cincinnati,  was  attacked  by  a  mob,  on  the  29th  of  July,  en 
tered  and  pillaged,  the  types  scattered,  and  the  press  broken 
^and  thrown  into  the  river. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  the  Seminole  Indians,  under  Osceola, 


106  HIStOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

were  repulsed  in  an  attack  on  the  United  States  fortified  post  at 
Micanopy,  Fla.  On  the  12th  of  August  they  were  victorious 
at  Fort  Doane. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  the  United  States  Patent  Office, 
with  all  its  contents,  occupying  a  portion  of  the  General  Post- 
office  Building,  in  Washington,  was  destroyed  by  fire. 

The  first  astronomical  observatory  built  in  the  United  States 
was  erected  at  Williamstown,  Mass. 

New  Orleans  was  supplied  with  water  pumped  from  the  Mis- 
sissipi  into  a  reservoir,  and  thence  conveyed  to  the  houses  by 
means  of  pipes. 

The  city  of  Philadelphia  was  lighted  with  gas,  for  the  first 
time,  on  the  10th  of  February. 

Miss  Ellen  Tree  made  her  first  appearance  in  America  on  the 
12th  of  December,  at  the  Park  Theatre,  in  New  York,  and 
proved  to  be  the  most  popular  actress,  excepting  Fanny  Kem- 
ble,  known  to  the  New  York  stage. 

The  first  penny  newspaper  in  Baltimore  issued  its  first  num 
ber  on  the  10th  of  March,  under  the  title  of  The  Baltimore 
Transcript.  The  Neic  York  Express  commenced  publication 
on  the  20th  of  June,  and  the  Public  Ledger,  at  Philadelphia,  on 
25th  of  March. 

The  first  manufacture  in  this  country  of  wrought-iron  tubing 
and  fittings  for  gas,  water,  and  steam  pipes  was  commenced  at 
Philadelphia. 

The  manufacture  of  fine-cut  chewing  tobacco  was  com 
menced  at  Centreville,  Mich.,  and,  until  the  year  1847,  was 
made  at  no  other  place  west  of  Detroit. 

Felt  cloth  was  first  successfully  manufactured  at  Norwalk, 
Conn. 

The  first  exportation  of  varnishes  was  made  this  year.  The 
manufacturers  of  New  York  shipped  a  considerable  quantity 
to  South  America  and  Mexico. 

Heretofore,  railroad  cars  were  pulled  up  heavy  grades  by 
means  of  stationary  engines.  On  the  10th  of  July,  on  the  Phil 
adelphia  and  Columbia  Railroad,  it  was  for  the  first  time  dem 
onstrated  that  ascents  could  be  made  by  locomotives,  without 
the  aid  of  stationary  engines  and  ropes,  which  fact  resulted  in 
the  adoption  of  a  new  principle  in  the  construction  of  railroads, 
and  the  saving  of  great  expense.  It  was  also  demonstrated,  by 
an  experiment  on  the  Beaver  Meadow  Railroad  in  Pennsylva 
nia,  that  anthracite  coal  was  a  better  fuel  than  wood  for  loco 
motives. 

The  Utica  and  Schenectady  Railroad,  seventy-eight  miles  in 
length,  was  opened  for  travel  on  the  1st  of  August.  The 
Brooklyn  and  Jamaica  Railroad  was  completed  on  the  18th 
of  April,  and  ground  broken  for  its  continuation  throughout  the 
whole  length  of  Long  Island. 

1837  Martin  Van  Bureri,  as  President,  and  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
as  Vice- President,  commenced  their  official  terms  on  the  4th  of 
March. 

This  year  is  marked  by  a  remarkable  pressure  in  the  money 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  107 

market,  and  great  commercial  distress  resulting  therefrom. 
Numerous  banks  had  been  chartered  in  the  preceding  year  by 
the  different  State  legislatures,  to  supply  a  supposed  want  of 
banking  capital  consequent  upon  the  refusal  of  Congress  to 
prolong  the  existence  of  the  United  States  Bank,  the  charter  of 
which  was  about  to  expire.  These  new  banks  being  without 
any  check  to  prevent  excessive  issues  of  paper  circulation,  the 
facilities  of  bank  accommodations  occasioned  a  scene  of  specu 
lation  which  extended  far  and  wide  over  the  whole  Union,  and 
all  classes  of  citizens  were  more  or  less  entangled  in  the  opera 
tions  which  ensued.  Extensive  purchases  of  the  public  lands, 
by  individuals  and  companies,  were  among  the  schemes  of  the 
day,  for  the  employment  of  the  abundance  of  bank  paper.  At 
length,  the  government  required  all  payments  for  the  public 
lands  to  be  made  in  specie,  which  sometimes  produced  large 
drafts  on  the  banks  for  that  commodity,  and  not  only  prevent 
ed  them  from  extending  their  lines  of  discount,  but  compelled 
them  to  commence  calling  in  their  circulating  notes.  An  order 
had  also  been  issued  directing  the  surplus  funds  of  the  govern 
ment  to  be  distributed  among  the  several  States,  and,  from  the 
mode  in  which  that  was  managed,  contributed  to  the  derange 
ment  of  the  currency,  Another  cause  of  pecuniary  embarrass 
ment  and  pressure  was  an  excessive  importation  of  merchan 
dise  from  abroad,  beyond  the  wants  and  abilities  of  the  coun 
try  ;  payments  for  which  falling  due,  and  American  credit  be 
ing  impaired  in  London,  occasioned  a  large  exportation  of  spe 
cie  to  Europe.  On  the  10th  of  May,  all  the  banks  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  by  common  consent,  suspended  specie  payments; 
the  banks  of  Boston,  Providence,  Hartford,  Albany,  Philadel 
phia,  and  Baltimore,  and  others  in  every  quarter,  adopted  the 
same  course.  During  the  preceding  two  months,  unprecedent 
ed  embarrassments  and  difficulties  were  experienced  among  the 
mercantile  classes,  and  were  felt  in  all  the  commercial  towns 
in  the  United  States,  especially  in  New  York  and  New  Orleans. 
The  number  of  large  failures  which  took  place  in  New  York  in 
a  short  time  was  about  three  hundred,  their  liabilities  amounting 
to  many  millions.  In  two  days,  houses  in  New  Orleans  stopped 
payment,  owing  an  aggregate  of  twenty-seven  millions  of  dol 
lars.  In  Boston,  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  failures  took 
place  in  six  months. 

Michigan  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  26th  of  Janu 
ary. 

t  Osceola,  the  Seminole  chief,  was  captured  near  St.  Augus 
tine.  His  capture  ended  the  Seminole  war.  He  had  come  un 
der  a  flag  of  truce,  to  hold  a  conference  with  the  American 
general,  and  by  the  general's  orders  was  detained.  He  was  sent 
as  a  prisoner  to  Fort  Moultrie,  in  Charleston  harbor,  where  he 
was  kept  until  the  next  year,  when  he  died. 

A  mob  attacked  and  fired  a  building  in  Alton,  111.,  on  the 
7th  of  November,  in  which  was  printed  an  abolition  newspaper 
published  by  Rev.  E.  P.  Lovejoy.  The  editor  was  murdered, 
and  the  press  broken  and  thrown  into  the  river. 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Chicago  was  incorporated  as  a  city  on  the  4th  of  March.  On 
the  1st  of  July  its  population  was  forty -one  hundred  and  sev 
enty,  and  the  number  of  buildings  in  the  place  about  five  hun 
dred. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  the  large  Louisville  and  New  Orleans 
packet  Ben  Sherrpd,  while  ascending  the  Mississippi  and  when 
about  fourteen  miles  above  Fort  Adams,  caught  fire  about  one 
o'clock  at  night,  and  the  passengers,  about  three  hundred  in 
number,  had  no  alternative  but  to  jump  into  the  river  without 
having  time  to  save  even  their  clothes.  More  than  two  hun 
dred  lives  were  lost  by  this  catastrophe.  The  boat  was  engaged 
in  a  race  at.the  time,  and  the  firemen,  to  raise  more  steam,  used 
pine-knots  for  fuel  and  sprinkled  resin  on  the  coal. 

About  fifty  lives  were  lost  on  the  night  of  the  27th  of  Decem 
ber,  on  the  Mississippi,  by  the  explosion  of  the  boiler  belonging 
to  the  steamboat  Black  Hawk  as  it  was  near  the  Red  River. 

The  Baltimore  Sun  appeared  on  the  17th  of  May,  and  the 
New  Orleans  Picayune  on  the  25th  of  January. 

The  first  successful  introduction  of  the  screw  in  steam-navi 
gation  was  made  this  year,  on  the  steamer  Thames,  by  Captains 
Ericsson  and  F.  P.  Smith. 

The  dynamometer,  an  invention  for  ascertaining  the  power 
used  in  driving  machinery,  was  first  put  to  use  this  year. 

The  invention  of  one-day  clocks  with  brass  movements  was 
introduced  at  this  time  in  Connecticut,  and  resulted  in  a  com 
plete  revolution  of  the  clock  business.  The  manufacture  of 
clocks  with  wooden  movements  was  immediately  stopped. 

The  first  establishment  erected  for  the  exclusive  manufacture 
of  machinists'  tools  was  opened  at  Nashua,  N.  H. 

A  man  was  publicly  whipped  on  the  court-house  parade  in 
Providence,  on  the  14th  of  July,  for  horse-stealing.  This 
method  of  punishment  had  never  been  legally  abolished,  though 
it  had  been  discontinued  for  a  long  time.  The  law  was  soon 
after  repealed. 

The  railroad  between  Richmond  and  Fredericksburg,  in 
Virginia,  was  completed;  the  Michigan  Central,  from  Detroit  to 
Ypsilanti,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  was  opened  for  travel ;  the 
road  from  Baltimore  to  Wilmington,  also,  on  the  19th  of  July; 
and  the  Providence  and  Stonington,  on  the  10th  of  November. 
On  the  26th  of  October,  the  tunnel  between  Thirty -fourth  and 
Forty  second  streets,  in  New  York,  was  completed  by  the 
Harlem  Railroad  Company. 

The  Chenango  Canal,  connecting  the  Susquehanna  at  Bing- 
hamton  with  the  Erie  Canal  at  Utica,  was  completed. 
1838  The  Mormons  expelled  from  Missouri  by  persecution,  whither 
they  had  emigrated  from  Ohio,  established  themselves  in 
Hancock  County,  Illinois,  and  commenced  building  a  town, 
which  they  called  Nauvoo.  They  numbered  at  this  time  about 
twelve  thousand. 

The  Atlantic  Ocean  was  crossed  for  the  first  time  by  vessels 
exclusively  propelled  by  steam-power.  There  were  two  steamers, 
called  the  Sirius  and  the. Great  Western,  which  arrived  at 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  100 

New  York  in  the  summer,  within  a  few  hours  of  each  other, 
TheSirius  started  from  London,  and  was  seventeen  days  on  her 
passage;  the  Great  Western,  from  Bristol,  fifteen  days.  From 
this  period  regular  passages  across  the  Atlantic  were  established. 

A  legacy  amounting  to  over  five  hundred  thousand  dollars., 
left  the  United  States  by  Mr.  James  Smithson  of  England,  ar 
rived  in  August  from  London.  The  money  was  bequeathed  by 
Smithson  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  and  was  used  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington. 

The  first  manufacture  of  gold  thimbles  and  spectacles  was 
commenced  at  Long  Meadow,  Mass. 

The  first  solid-headed  pins  made  in  the  United  States  were 
manufactured  at  Birmingham,  Conn.,  by  the  Ho  we  Pin  Company 
which  had  removed  to  that  town  from  New  York.  This  new 
style  of  manufacture  soon  superseded  the  spun-headed  pins 
heretofore  used. 

The  first  zinc  manufactured  in  the  United  States  wras  made 
at  the  arsenal  at  Washington,  from  the  red  oxide  of  New 
Jersey.  It  was  used  in  the  brass  designed  for  the  standard 
weights  and  measures  ordered  by  Congress.  The  expense  of 
its  manufacture  was  so  great,  that  for  a  long  time  any  further 
attempts  to  use  this  ore  were  abandoned. 

The  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  in  Virginia,  the 
Nashua  and  Lowell,  and  a  portion  of  the  Mad  River  Railroad 
in  Ohio,  were  completed  and  opened  for  travel. 

On  the  27th  of  April,  a  destructive  conflagration  occurred  at 
Charleston,  S.  C.  Eleven  hundred  and  fifty-eight  buildings 
were  destroyed,  and  nearly  one  half  the  city  was  desolated. 
Property  valued  at  three  millions  of  dollars  was  lost.  On  the 
afternoon  of  the  25th  of  April,* the  steamboat  Moselle,  bound 
for  St.  Louis,  left  her  landing  at  Cincinnati,  with  an  unusually 
large  number  of  passengers  on  board,  supposed  to  be  nearly 
three  hundred.  The  boat  proceeded  about  a  mile  up  the  river, 
to  take  on  some  German  emigrants,  and  just  as  it  was  moving 
from  shore  at  that  point  her  four  boilers  exploded  simultaneously, 
blowing  the  upper  part  of  the  vessel  to  atoms.  The  remainder, 
after  floating  a  short  distance,  sank  in  the  river.  About  one 
hundred  and  thirty  persons  lost  their  lives,  and  several  others 
were  badly  injured. 

1839  On  the  10th  of  October,  the  United  States  Bank  failed, 
and  closed  its  doors,  on  account  of  ruinous  speculations  in 
cotton.  During  the  preceding  year  it  bought  cotton  for  a  rise, 
and  for  a  time  it  advanced  to  sixteen  cents  a  pound,  but  soon 
declined  in  price,  causing  great  loss  to  the  bank.  It  made  great 
exertions  to  sustain  itself  by  the  sale  of  bonds  in  Europe,  and 
by  issuing  post-notes,  which  were  sold  in  Boston  and  New  York 
at  a  discount  of  eighteen  to  twenty-four  per  cent.  This  failure 
and  cotton  speculations  caused  a  large  number  of  bank  suspen 
sions,  principally  at  the  South  and  West.  Three  hundred  and 
forty- three  banks  closed  business  entirely,  and  sixty-two 
partially.  The  government  lost  two  millions  of  dollars  in. 
deposits  by  these  failures. 


110  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  seat  of  Government  for  Illinois  was  removed  from  Van- 
dalia  to  Springfield. 

Greenwood  Cemetery,  in  Brooklyn,  was  incorporated  on  the 
llth  of  April,  and  in  October  lots  were  first  offered  for  sale. 

The  first  printing-press  established  west  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  was  set  up  at  Walla  Walla,  in  Oregon,  a  place  founded  by 
*ome  Presbyterian  missionaries. 

The  first  Normal  School  in  America  was  opened  on  the  3d 
of  July,  at  Lexington,  Mass. 

The  first  successfully  constructed  screw-propeller  was  built 
this  year  by  Captain  Ericsson,  in  England,  and  navigated  to 
this  country.  It  demonstrated  the  value  of  screws  over  pad- 
•dles  for  boats  used  for  certain  purposes. 

The  first  carpets  woven  by  a  power-loom,  in  this  or  any  other 
country,  were  produced  this  year  at  Lowell. 

The  first  successful  attempt  to  use  anthracite  coal  in  the 
manufacture  of  iron  was  made  at  a  furnace  in  Pottsville,  Pa. 
The  proprietor  was  rewarded  with  a  present  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  subscribed  by  citizens  of  the  State. 

The  first  white  settlement  on  the  site  of  Sacramento  was 
made  by  J.  A.  gutter. 

The  express  business  in  this  country  originated  on  the  4th  of 
March,  when  Mr.  W.  F.  Harnden  of  Boston,  according  to 
previous  advertisement,  made  a  trip  from  that  city  to  New  York 
as  a  public  messenger.  He  had  in  charge  a  few  books  and 
some  Southern  and  Western  bank  notes  for  delivery.  His  route 
was  by  railroad  from  Boston  to  Stonington,  thence  by  steam 
boat  to  New  York.  He  proposed  also  to  take  charge  of  freight 
and  attend  to  its  early  delivery,  he  having  made  a  contract  with 
the  railroad  and  steamboajt  line  on  that  route  for  that  purpose. 

Charles  Goodyear  obtained  his  first  patent  for  vulcanized 
india-rubber  in  February. 

The  Western  Railroad,  between  Worcester  and  Springfield, 
was  opened  for  travel  on  the  1st  of  October.  The  Syracuse  and 
Utica,  and  the  Syracuse  and  Auburn,  railroads,  were  also  com 
pleted  this  year. 

1840  Congress  established  the  Independent  Treasury.  The  new 
system  proposed  to  separate  the  government  entirely  from  any 
dependence  upon  the  banks  in  its  fiscal  operations,  the  collec 
tion,  safe-keeping,  transfer,  and  disbursements  of  the  public 
money  to  be  performed  by  agents  of  the  government  alone, 
and  only  specie  to  be  used  in  all  transactions  of  the  govern 
ment.  This  act  was  repealed  during  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Tyler. 

The  result  of  the  presidential  election  this  year,  after  a  cam 
paign  more  than  usually  exciting,  was  successful  for  the  candi 
dates  of  the  Whig  party.  These  were  William  H.  Harrison, 
for  President,  who  received  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  elec 
toral  votes,  and  John  Tyler  for  Vice-President,  who  received 
the  same  number.  Martin  Van  Buren  was  the  nominee  for 
President  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  received  sixty  votes. 
For  Vice-President,  Richard  M.  Johnson  received  forty-eight 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  Ill 

votes,  L.  W.  Tazewcll  eleven,  and  James  K.  Polk  one.  A 
third  party,  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  had  been  or 
ganized  for  some  time,  and  this  year  nominated  James  G.  Bir- 
ney  for  President,  who  received  some  scattering  votes  in  the 
Northern  States,  but  not  sufficient  in  any  one  to  give  him  a 
single  electoral  vote. 

The  census  of  Iowa  showed  a  population  of  forty-three  thous 
and  ;  and  of  Wisconsin,  of  thirty-one  thousand. 

The  town  of  Scranton,  Pa.,  was  founded. 

Water  was  supplied  to  the  city  of  Chicago  by  a  private  cor 
poration.  It  was  pumped  from  the  lake  into  a  reservoir  about 
twenty-five  feet  square  and  eight  feet  deep,  and  thence  con 
veyed  to  the  citizens  by  means  of  pipes  made  of  logs. 

This  year,  Mr.  P.  B.  Burke  and  Mr.  Alvan  Adams  com 
menced  to  take  charge  of  freight,  and  packages  of  money  and 
goods,  and  attend  to  their  delivery,  between  Boston  and  New 
York,  by  the  way  of  Springfield,  in  competition  with  Mr. 
Harnden,  who  had  established  the  business  in  the  preceding 
year  by  the  Stonington  route.  This  enterprise  was  the  founda 
tion  of  the  Adams  Express  Company. 

The  first  manufacture  of  gold  pens  in  this  country  was  com 
menced  at  New  York. 

The  first  iron-front  building  in  America  was  erected  on 
Washington  Street,  in  Boston,  this  year,  upon  the  guarantee  of 
the  builder  that  it  should  be  taken  down  at  his  own  expense  if 
it  proved  a  failure. 

The  first  successful  daguerreotype  portraits  were  made  at  the 
New  York  University,  by  Dr.  Draper.  The  process,  invented 
by  Daguerre,  in  France,  was  purchased  by  the  French  Govern 
ment,  and  was  never  used  in  copying  landscapes  and  likenesses, 
and  was  only  adapted  to  statuary  and  architecture.  When  the 
news  of  Dr.  Draper's  discovery  reached  London,  its  success 
was  ascribed  to  the  peculiar  brilliancy  of  the  American  sun 
light. 

A  tornado  visited  the  city  of  Natchez,  on  the  7th  of  May, 
occasioning  an  immense  destruction  of  property  and  loss  of 
life.  Several  steamboats  were  destroyed  at  the  wharves,  and 
many  persons  who  had  embarked  in  them  were  drowned.  A 
large  number  of  flat-boats  were  wrecked  by  the  gale,  and  a 
number  of  boatmen,  estimated  at  upwards  of  two  hundred, 
perished.  The  wreck  of  one  steamboat  was  afterwards  found 
at  Baton  Rouge,  with  fifty-one  dead  bodies  on  it.  Of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  flat-boats  at  the  landing,  all  but  four  were 
lost.  The  water  in  the  river  was  agitated  to  that  degree 
that  the  best  swimmers  could  not  save  themselves.  Many 
houses  were  blown  down  and  several  unroofed. 

The  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  was  completed  from 
Georgetown,  D.  C.,  to  Cumberland,  Pa.,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  ninety-one  miles,  at  a  cost  of  about  sixteen  mil 
lions  of  dollars. 

The  Housatonic  Railroad,  in  Connecticut,  was  completed 
from  Bridgeport  to  New  Milford  on  the  12th  of  February; 


112  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  Raleigh  and  Gaston,  and  the  Wilmington  and  Roanoke,  in 
North  Carolina,  in  April;  and  the  New  Bedford  and  Taunton, 
in  Massachusetts,  on  the  1st  of  July. 

Mdlle.  Fanny  Elssler,  the  celebrated  danseuse,  made  her  first 
appearance  in  America  at  the  Park  Theatre,  New  York.  Her 
engagement  was  a  great  success,  and  a  tour  through  the  coun 
try  was  one  of  unabated  triumph. 

1841  William  Henry  Harrison  was  inaugurated  President  on  the 
4th  of  March,  and  died  exactly  one  month  afterwards,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  John  Tyler,  the  Yice-President. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  a  brig  from  Richmond,  Ya.,  sailed 
for  New  Orleans  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  slaves  on 
board.  When  near  the  Bahama  Islands,  nineteen  of  the  slaves 
arose  and  took  possession  of  the  vessel  to  secure  their  liberty. 
In  the  struggle  which  ensued,  a  slave-vender  was  killed,  and 
the  captain,  first  mate,  and  ten  of  the  crew  were  severely 
wounded.  The  vessel  was  then  sailed  to  Nassau,  and  being  on 
English  soil,  the  slaves  retained  their  liberty. 

A  riot  took  place  at  Cincinnati  in  September,  lasting  two 
days,  incited  by  the  mob  against  the  abolitionists  and  blacks. 
Bands  of  armed  men  patrolled  the  streets  in  search  of  negroes ; 
a  colored  meeting-house  and  several  houses  were  demolished. 

The  first  exportation  of  American  clocks  was  made  this  year. 
They  were  sent  to  England,  and  the  invoice  appeared  to  be  so- 
ridiculously  low  to  the  custom-house  authorities  at  Liverpool 
that  they  were  at  first  seized  for  under-valuation.  This  ven 
ture  proving  successful,  the  business  was  continued,  and  devel 
oped  into  one  of  large  dimensions;  and  clocks  were  sent  to  the 
different  countries  of  Europe,  to  Asia,  and  South  America. 
Before  the  use  of  brass  movements,  shipments  were  not  made 
across  the  ocean,  as  the  old  wooden  clocks  then  in  use  would 
be  ruined,  because  exposure  to  the  humidity  of  the  sea  caused 
the  movements  of  the  clocks  to  swell  and  ruin  them. 

The  grain-drill  for  planting  wheat  was  patented  in  March, 
and  its  introduction  among  \he  farmers  attempted,  but  was 
only  after  the  lapse  of  years  that  its  value  was  recognized  and 
acknowledged. 

The  first  steam  fire-engine  in  this  country  was  completed 
and  put  to  use  in  New  York,  under  a  contract  made  with  the 
associated  insurance  companies.  It  was,  however,  afterwards 
sold  and  converted  to  other  purposes,  its  great  weight  proving 
to  be  a  fatal  objection  to  its  use. 

The  express  business  continued  to  make  progress.  It  was 
continued  this  year  as  far  south  as  Philadelphia,  and  west  to 
Albany. 

The  New  York  Tribune  issued  its  first  number  on  the  10th  of 
April,  edited  by  Horace  Greeley.  It  was  about  one  third  its 
present  size,  and  commenced  with  about  six  hundred  subscrib 
ers,  procured  by  the  exertions  of  a  few  of  the  editor's  personal 
and  political  friends.  The  expenses  of  the  first  week  of  its 
existence  were  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars ;  and  the 
receipts,  ninety-two  dollars. 


HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  113 

The  Western  Railroad  was  completed  on  the  21st  of  Decem 
ber,  and  communication  was  opened  by  railroad  between  Bos 
ton  and  the  Hudson,  opposite  Albany.  The  railroad  between 
Auburn  and  Rochester  was  also  completed,  thus  making  a  con 
tinuous  railroad  between  Boston  and  Rochester,  excepting  the 
ferry  at  Albany. 

1842  It  was  provided  in  a  treaty  executed  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  that  the  latter  nation  should  keep  a  force 
of  one  thousand  men  and  eighty  guns  on  the  coast  of  Africa  to 
assist  in  suppressing  the  slave-trade. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  the  colored  people  in  Philadelphia  at 
tempted  a  celebration  in  commemoration  of  West  India  eman 
cipation.  Their  procession  wras  assailed  by  a  mob,  who  exe 
cuted  many  deeds  of  violence  and  bloodshed.  A  public  hall 
and  a  church  were  burned,  and  several  private  houses  de 
molished.  Disturbances  of  like  nature  occurred  at  New  Bed 
ford,  Nantucket,  and  other  places.  Anti-slavery  meetings 
were  broken  up,  halls  damaged,  and  people  assaulted. 

Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  this  year  made  default  in  the 
payment  of  interest  on  their  State  debts. 

A  government  expedition,  consisting  of  twenty -eight  Cana 
dians  and  Creoles  who  were  accustomed  to  prairie  life,  com 
manded  by  John  C.  Fremont  and  accompanied  by  the  cele 
brated  Kit  Carson  as  a  guide,  left  Choteau's  trading-house,  on 
the  Missouri  River,  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  the  country 
between  the  frontier  of  Missouri  and  the  South  Pass  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  on  the  line  of  the  Great  Platte  and  Kansas 
Rivers.  On  the  14th  of  July  they  reached  Fort  Laramie,  on 
Laramie  River,  a  post  belonging  to  the  American  Fur  Com 
pany,  and  inhabited  by  a  motley  collection  of  traders,  with  their 
Indian  wives  and  parti-colored  children.  In  August  they  came 
to  their  destination,  and  Fremont  ascended  the  loftiest  peak  in 
that  range  of  the  mountains,  about  one  hundred  miles  south  of 
Oregon.  This  peak  is  thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  and 
seventy  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  On  one 
side  of  the  mountain  could  be  seen  innumerable  lakes  and 
streams  and  the  springs  of  the  Colorado,  and  on  the  other  the 
Wind  River  Valley,  where  were  the  sources  of  the  Yellowstone 
branch  of  the  Missouri.  Soon  after  the  party  set  out  on  their 
return,  and  on  the  17th  of  October  arrived  at  St.  Louis. 

The  Bunker  Hill  Monument  was  entirely  completed  on  the 
23d  of  July.  The  obelisk  is  thirty  feet  square  at  the  base,  fif 
teen  feet  square  at  the  top,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-one 
feet  high.  It  is  built  of  Quincy  granite. 

Rhode  Island  was  agitated  this  year  by  "Dorr's  rebellion," 
as  it  was  called.  The  old  charter  was  and  always  had  been  the 
basis  of  the  organic  law  for  the  State,  and  allowed  the  right  of 
suffrage  only  to  owners  of  a  certain  amount  of  real  estate,  and 
to  their  eldest  sons.  Mr.  Dorr  for  several  years,  while  a  member 
of  the  assembly,  exerted  himself  without  avail  to  procure  the 
substitution  of  a  liberal  constitution  in  place  of  the  old  charter. 
He  then  resorted  to  popular  agitation,  and  organized  a  suffrage 


114  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

party  in  opposition  to  the  charter  party.  The  suffrage  parly, 
after  holding  several  large  mass  conventions,  called  a  delegate 
State  convention  to  frame  a  new  constitution,  which  was  sub 
mitted  for  ratification  to  the  popular  vote.  It  received  fourteen 
thousand  votes,  a  clear  majority  of  the  citizens  of  the  State. 
The  charter  party,  however,  contended  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  votes  were  fraudulent.  Mr.  Dorr  and  his  party  assumed 
that  the  new  constitution  was  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State, 
and  proceeded  in  accordance  with  it  to  hold  an  election  for 
State  officers.  Mr.  Dorr  was  chosen  governor,  and  a  legislature, 
composed  exclusively  of  his  supporters,  was  elected.  The 
charter  party  also  held  an  election,  polling  fifty-seven  hundred 
votes,  while  the  suffrage  party  claimed  to  have  polled  seventy- 
three  hundred.  On  the  3d  of  May,  Mr.  Dorr's  party  attempted 
to  organize  at  Providence.  The  other  party  formed  a  State 
government  on  the  same  day  at  Newport,  with  Samuel  W. 
King  as  governor.  Governor  King  proclaimed  the  State  under 
martial  law,  called  out  the  militia,  and  asked  and  obtained  the 
aid  of  the  United  States  troops  to  suppress  the  movements  of 
Dorr  and  his  party.  On  the  18th  of  May  a  portion  of  the  suf 
frage  party  assembled  at  Providence  under  arms,  and  attempted 
to  seize  the  arsenal,  but  dispersed  on  the  approach  of  Gov 
ernor  King  with  a  military  force.  They  assembled  again  at  a 
place  about  ten  miles  from  Providence,  but  being  attacked  by 
the  State  troops  they  dispersed  without  resistance.  Mr.  Dorr 
took  refuge  in  Connecticut  and  afterward  in  New  Hampshire. 
A  reward  of  four  thousand  dollars  was  offered  for  his  appre 
hension  by  the  authorities  of  Rhode  Island.  He  soon  returned 
to  the  State,  was  arrested,  tried,  and  convicted  of  high  treason 
and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life.  He  was  subsequently- 
pardoned  and  restored  to  his  civil  rights,  and  the  record  of  his 
sentence  expunged.  He  lived  to  see  his  State  under  a  liberal 
constitution,  and  his  party  in  legal  possession  of  the  govern 
ment. 

The  Croton  Aqueduct,  for  supplying  water  to  the  citizens  of 
New  York,  was  completed,  and  on  the  14th  of  October  the 
event  was  celebrated.  Its  length  is  about  forty  miles,  and  cost 
about  twelve  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars. 

The  city  of  Dubuque,  in  Iowa,  was  incorporated.  It  is  the 
oldest  town  in  the  State,  it  having  been  settled  by  the  French 
in  1788. 

The  first  manufacture  of  piano  and  damask  table-covers  by 
power-looms  was  commenced  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  first  submarine  telegraph  in  this  country  was  laid  on 
the  18th  of  October,  between  Governor's  Island  in  the  harbor 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  Battery  in  that  city.  It  was 
invented  by  Professor  Morse,  and  consisted  of  a  copper  wire 
insulated  by  means  of  a  hempen  strand  coated  with  tar,  pitch, 
and  India-rubber.  The  next  morning  communications  were 
beginning  to  be  received  through  it,  when  the  wire  was  caught 
by  an  anchor  upon  being  hauled  up,  and  a  large  portion  of  it 
destroyed.  This  disturbance  of  the  experiment  led  Professor 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  115 

Morse  to  invent  the  method  of  transmitting  the  current  across 
a  body  of  water,  by  means  of  extending  the  wires  a  distance 
proportionate  to  the  width  along  the  banks  on  each  side,  and 
causing  the  poles  to  terminate  each  pair  opposite  each  other 
in  large  metallic  plates  in  the  water. 

The  first  introduction  of  wire-ropes  was  made  by  Mr.  John 
A.  Boebling,  who  manufactured  them  for  use  on  the  inclined 
planes  of  the  Alleghany  Portage  Railroad,  crossing  the  moun 
tains  and  connecting  the  eastern  and  western  divisions  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Canal.  Hemp-ropes  had  been  heretofore  used 
upon  that  railroad,  at  an  annual  expense  of  about  twenty  thou 
sand  dollars. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  George  Vandenhoff ,  who  afterwards 
made  himself  universally  popular  as  a  dramatic  reader,  made  his 
first  appearance  in  America,  at  the  Park  Theatre  in  New  York. 
On  the  4th  of  October,  Mr.  John  Brougham  appeared  for  the  first 
time  in  this  country  at  the  same  place. 

The  railroad  froin  Rochester  to  Buffalo,  the  last  link  in  the 
line  from  Boston  to  Lake  Erie;  and  the  Philadelphia  and  Read 
ing  Railroad,  were  completed  this  year.  The  Concord  and 
Nashua  Railroad  was  opened  for  travel  on  the  1st  of  Septem 
ber. 

On  the  15th  of  April,  the  steamboat  Medora,  belonging  to 
the  Baltimore  Steam  Packet  Company,  when  about  starting 
from  Baltimore  on  a  trial  trip,  exploded  her  boiler,  killing 
twenty-seven  persons  and  scalding  and  seriously  injuring  forty 
others. 

1843  About  one  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  assembled  at 
Westport,  on  the  Missouri  frontier,  in  June,  and  commenced  an 
emigration  to  Oregon,  where  they  arrived,  after  a  laborious  and 
fatiguing  journey  of  more  than  two  thousand  miles,  in  October. 
Other  emigrations  soon  followed,  and  before  the  close  of  the 
year  over  three  thousand  settlers  were  in  Oregon. 

A  second  exploring  expedition,  commanded  by  John  C.  Fre 
mont,  consisting  of  thirty-nine  men,  Americans,  Creoles,  and 
Canadians,  left  the  town  of  Kansas,  on  the  Missouri  frontier,  on 
the  29th  of  May,  for  Oregon  and  California.  On  the  llth  of 
July,  they  came  in  sight  of  Pike's  Peak,  having  passed  numer 
ous  trams  of  emigrant  wagons  on  their  way,  and  on  the  13th  of 
August  they  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains  at  South  Pass,  which 
is  about  half-way  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  In  September  they  visited  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  on 
the  25th  of  October  they  reached  the  Columbia  River.  On  the 
4th  of  November,  they  proceeded  in  boats  to  Fort  Vancouver, 
on  the  Columbia,  about  one  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth,  and 
on  the  25th,  started  on  their  return  journey  by  a  southern  route. 

A  submarine  telegraph  cable  was  laid  between  Coney  Island 
and  Fire  Island  and  the  city  of  New  York,  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Colt,  and  operated  with  success.  The  cable  was  insulated  by 
l)eing  covered  with  a  combination  of  cotton  yarn,  asphaltum, 
and  beeswax,  and  the  whole  inclosed  in  a  lead  pipe,  gutta-percha 
l)eing  unknown  at  this  time. 


116  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Cincinnati  was  lighted  with  gas  for  the  first  time  on  the  14th 
of  January. 

The  express  business  was  extended  from  Philadelphia  to  Bal 
timore,  under  a  partnership  company  called  Adams  &  Com 
pany. 

The  first  lake-propeller  was  launched  at  Cleveland.  It  used 
the  screw  of  Ericsson's  patent. 

The  Miami  Canal,  connecting  the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati  with 
Lake  Erie  at  Toledo,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
miles,  was  completed.  The  work  was  formally  commenced  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1825. 

The  Georgia  Railroad,  one  hundred  and  seventy-one  miles  in 
length,  connecting  Augusta  with  Atlanta  ;  the  Georgia  Central, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-one  miles,  between  Savannah  and  Ma- 
con  ;  and  the  Boston  and  Maine,  between  Boston  and  Berwick, 
were  all  opened  for  travel  this  year. 

The  renowned  violinist  Ole  Bull  made  his  first  appearance 
in  America  on  the  25th  of  November,  at  the  Park  Theatre  in 
New  York.  Charles  Walcott,  for  many  years  considered 
among  the  best  light  and  eccentric  comedians  on  the  stage,  made 
his  debut  at  the  Olympic  Theatre  in  New  York. 
1844  The  candidates  of  the  Democratic  party  this  year  were  James 
K.  Polk  for  President,  and  George  M.  Dallas  for  Vice-President. 
The  Whig  candidates  were  Henry  Clay^and  Theodore  M.  Fre- 
linghuysen.  The  most  important  issue  in  the  election  contest 
was  the  question  of  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States,  the  former  party  advocating  it,  the  latter  oppos 
ing.  Some  opposed  the  scheme  because  they  feared  the  exten 
sion  of  slave  territory,  others  that  the  United  States  would  be 
involved  in  war  with  Mexico.  The  result  of  the  election  was 
successful  to  the  Democratic  candidates,  Mr.  Polk  and  Mr. 
Dallas  each  receiving  one  hundred  and  seventy  electoral  votes, 
and  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen  one  hundred  and  five.  Mr.  Bir- 
ney  was  again  nominated  by  the  Abolitionists  for  President, 
and  received  of  the  popular  vote  nearly  sixty-five  thousand. 

The  people  of  Illinois,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nauvoo,  felt 
scandalized  at  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Mormons.  A 
newspaper  was  started  to  agitate  the  question  of  their  expulsion 
from  the  locality.  By  the  orders  of  Smith  the  Prophet,  the 
obnoxious  press  was  destroyed,  the  printing  materials  dispersed, 
and  the  editors  were  obliged  to  flee  for  their  lives.  At  Carthage, 
warrants  were  prepared  for  the  arrest  of  Smith,  his  brother,  and 
sixteen  others,  accused  of  being  accessories  in  the  destruction 
of  the  printing-office.  The  constables  sent  to  arrest  them  were 
expelled  from  Nauvoo.  The  people  of  the  county  were  re 
solved  to  vindicate  their  laws,  and  the  militia  were  ordered  out. 
The  Mormons  fortified  their  city,  and  the  governor  of  the  State 
took  the  field  in  person.  To  avoid  bloodshed,  he  parleyed  with 
the  Mormon  leaders,  and  persuaded  Smith  and  his  brother  to 
surrender  themselves  to  the  civil  authority,  with  the  assurance 
that  they  would  receive  protection  and  .justice.  The  fiercest 
animosity  existed  between  the  people  of  Hancock  County  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  Mormons.  The  idea  prevailed  that  at  the  connivance  of  the 
governor  the  Mormon  leaders  would  be  allowed  to  escape.  To 
prevent  this,  a  mob  with  blackened  faces  assembled  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  27th  of  June,  fell  upon  and  dispersed  the  guard  at 
Carthage  jail,  and  rushed  into  the  prison  where  the  two  Smiths 
were  confined.  Smith  was  mortally  wounded  while  attempting 
to  jump  from  the  window,  and  his  brother  was  shot  dead  in  the 
cell.  The  murderers  were  never  identified.  Upon  the  death 
of  Smith,  the  choice  of  a  new  head  for  the  sect  fell  upon  Brig- 
ham  Young.  Disturbances  occurred  from  time  to  time  after 
this,  until  in  the  year  1846  the  Mormons  resolved  to  remove 
beyond  the  limits  of  civilization. 

The  Fremont  Exploring  Expedition  returned  to  Kansas,  its 
starting-point,  on  the  31st  of  July,  having  visited  this  year  the 
southern  end  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake;  the  Pass  in  the  Sierra  Ne 
vada,  a  point  within  two  degrees  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  far  south 
of  the  latitude  of  Monterey;  and  a  portion  of  New  Mexico.  On 
their  return  they  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains  about  one  hun 
dred  and  ninety  miles  south  of  the  South  Pass. 

This  year  is  marked  by  the  introduction,  by  Professor  Morse, 
of  the  magnetic  telegraph,  and  vulcanized  India-rubber  invented 
by  Charles  Goodyear.  As  to  the  first,  Professor  Morse  had  in 
terested  Congress  in  his  invention,  and  secured  an  appropriation 
of  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  construction  of  an  experi 
mental  line  between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  The  con 
ducting  wires  were  first  put  into  tubes  placed  in  the  ground, 
but  that  system  soon  proved  to  be  impracticable,  and  then  they 
were  strung  above  on  poles.  The  wires  were  covered  with  rope- 
yarn  and  tar,  to  protect  them  against  the  weather.  By  the 
month  of  May,  the  whole  line  was  laid,  and  magnets  and  re 
cording  instruments  were  attached  to  the  ends  of  the  wires  at 
Mount  Clare  Depot,  Baltimore,  and  at  the  Supreme  Court  Cham 
ber  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  messages  were  success 
fully  transmitted.  Mr.  Morse  then  sought  further  government 
patronage,  which  was  declined  upon  the  advice  of  the  Post 
master  General,  who,  in  his  report  upon  the  subject,  declared 
his  belief  that  the  telegraph,  although  an  interesting  experi 
ment,  could  never  become  of  practical  value,  and  consequently 
a  very  moderate  offer  made  by  Professor  Morse  for  the  sale  of 
his  entire  invention  to  the  government  was  declined.  An  appeal 
to  the  enterprise  was  then  made  to  the  business  men  of  the 
country.  In  order  to  bring  the  invention  to  their  attention,  Mr. 
Ezra  Cornell,  who  had  superintended  the  erection  of  the  ex 
perimental  line,  opened  for  exhibition  a  short  line  of  telegraph 
in  Boston.  Finding  but  little  encouragement  in  that  city,  the 
exhibition  Avas  soon  abandoned  there  and  transferred  to  New 
York,  where  an  experimental  line  was  opened  in  the  autumn, 
between  No.  112  Broadway  to  a  point  just  above  the  present 
Metropolitan  Hotel.  So  little  attention  did  the  invention  then 
receive,  that  Mr.  Cornell  and  his  assistant  found  it  extremely 
difficult  to  maintain  themselves  in  the  most  humble  manner 
upon  the  admission-fee  of  one  shilling  per  head,  charged  to  view 


118  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  exhibition.  Early  in  the  next  year  Mr.  Amos  Kendall,  who 
had  been  selected  by  Mr.  Morse  as  his  agent  for  the  purpose, 
made  exertions  with  the  public  to  secure  capital  for  a  line  of  tele 
graph  from  New  York  to  Baltimore  and  Washington.  Meeting 
with  little  favor,  he  thought  best  to  attempt  its  construction  first 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  to  limit  the  request  for 
capital  to  the  probable  cost  of  that  section.  The  estimated  cost 
of  a  line  from  Philadelphia  to  Hudson  River  was  fifteen  thou 
sand  dollars,  which  sum  was  with  difficulty  secured,  chiefly 
outside  of  New  York.  Mr.  Corcoran  of  Washington  was  the 
first  to  contribute.  It  was  provided  in  the  original  subscription 
that  the  payment  of  fifty  dollars  should  entitle  the  subscriber 
to  two  shares  of  fifty  dollars  each.  A  payment  of  fifteen  thou 
sand  dollars,  therefore,  required  an  issue  of  thirty  thousand 
dollars  stock.  To  the  patentees  were  issued  an  additional  thirty 
thousand  dollars  of  stock,  or  half  the  capital,  as  the  consider 
ation  of  the  patent.  The  capital  stock  was  therefore  fixed  at 
sixty  thousand  dollars.  Meanwhile  an  act  of  incorporation  was 
granted  by  the  Legislature  of  Maryland — the  first  telegraphic 
charter  issued  in  the  United  States/  The  name  of  the  company 


mn  ten  years, 

years  after  he  had  discovered  the  secret  of 
vulcanization,  succeeded  in  conducting  his  process  with  abso 
lute  certainty.  It  was  in  1820  that  a  pair  of  rubber  shoes  was 
seen  for  the  first  time  in  the  United  States.  They  were  covered 
with  gilding,  and  resembled  in  shape  the  shoes  of  a  Chinaman. 
They  were  handed  about  in  Boston  only  as  a  curiosity.  Two 
or  three  years  after,  a  ship  from  South  America  brought  to  Bos 
ton  five  hundred  pairs  of  shoes,  thick,  heavy,  and  ill-shaped, 
which  sold  so  readily  as  to  invite  further  importations.  In 
1830,  vast  quantities  of  the  raw  gum  reached  the  United  States, 
covered  with  hides,  in  masses,  of  wrhich  no  use  could  be  made, 
and  it  remained  unsold,  or  was  sent  to  England.  The  raw 
rubber  could  then  be  bought  in  Boston  at  five  cents  a  pound, 
and  the  idea  of  finding  some  means  of  utilizing  it  was  suggested 
to  Mr.  E.  M.  Chaffee,  a  foreman  of  a  Boston  patent-leather  fac 
tory.  He  experimented  with  the  article,  and  succeeded,  as  he 
supposed,  in  making  an  invention  of  great  value.  He  made 
some  specimens  of  cloth  spread  with  rubber,  which,  after  being 
dried  in  the  sun,  presented  a  surface  firm  and  smooth,  that 
appeared  to  possess  the  good  qualities  of  patent-leather,  with 
the  additional  one  of  being  water-proof.  A  number  of  capi 
talists  were  convinced  of  the  value  of  his  invention,  and  they 
formed  a  company  in  1833  at  Roxbury,  with  thirty  thousand 
dollars  capital.  The  success  of  the  enterprise  was  astonishing, 
and  within  a  year  the  capital  was  increased  to  one  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  dollars.  Before  another  year  expired  this  was 
increased  to  three  hundred  thousand,  and  in  the  year  following 
to  four  hundred  thousand.  The  company  manufactured  many 
articles  of  cloth  covered  with  rubber,  such  as  coats,  caps,  wagon 
curtains,  coverings,  and  shoes  of  pure  rubber  without  cloth. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  119 

The  goods  sold  more  rapidly  than  they  could  be  manufactured. 
The  prosperity  of  the  Roxbury  company  called  into  existence 
similar  establishments  in  other  towns.  Manufactories  were 
started  at  Boston,  Framingham,  Salem,  Lynn,  Chelsea,  Troy, 
and  Staten  Island,  with  capitals  ranging  from  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  to  half  a  million,  and  all  of  them  appeared  to 
prosper.  It  was  in  1834,  when  the  business  was  most  flourish 
ing,  that  Mr.  Goodyear's  attention  was  called  to  a  rubber  life- 
preserver,  and  he  thought  he  could  make  an  improvement  in 
the  inflating  apparatus.  He  explained  his  contrivance  to  the 
agent  of  the  Roxbury  company,  and  offered  to  sell  it.  The 
agent,  struck  with  the  ingenuity  displayed  in  the  invention, 
took  Mr.  Goodyear  into  his  confidence,  and  suggested  his  aid  in 
overcoming  a  difficulty  that  threatened  the  company  with  ruin. 
He  told  him  that  the  prosperity  of  the  rubber  companies  was 
fallacious.  Vast  quantities  of  shoes  and  fabrics  had  been  sold 
by  his  company  at  high  prices  in  the  cool  months,  but  during 
the  following  summer  the  greater  part  of  them  had  melted. 
Twenty  thousand  dollars'  worth  had  been  returned,  reduced  to 
the  consistency  of  common  gum,  and  emitting  an  odor  so  offen 
sive  that  they  had  been  obliged  to  bury  it.  Experiments  made 
to  overcome  the  difficulty  had  proved  unsuccessful.  Goods 
would  become  sticky  in  the  sun  and  rigid  in  the  cold.  The 
agent  urged  Goodyear  not  to  waste  time  upon  minor  improve 
ments,  but  to  direct  all  his  efforts  to  finding  out  the  secret  of 
successfully  working  the  material  itself.  This  chance  conver 
sation  with  the  agent  led  Goodyear  to  investigate  the  subject, 
and  to  continue  his  experiments  year  after  year,  against  almost 
overwhelming  discouragements  and  adversities.  Meanwhile 
the  business  of  all  the  rubber  companies  began  to  decline,  and 
before  the  close  of  1836  ceased  altogether,  resulting  in  a  loss  of 
about  two  millions  of  dollars. 

The  first  operations  in  copper-mining  in  the  Lake  Superior 
region  were  commenced  this  year. 

The  second  attempt  in  the  United  States  to  establish  a  theatre 
for  operatic  performances  exclusively  wras  made  in  New  York 
by  Ferdinand  Palmo,  who  erected  a  building  for  the  purpose 
on  Chambers  Street,  in  the  rear  of  the  City  Hall.  The  enter 
prise  was  a  failure,  and  the  building  was  subsequently  sold  to 
William  E.  Burton,  who  used  it  for  light  comedy. 

A  treaty  was  made  between  the  United  States  and  China,  by 
which  the  citizens  of  this  country  were  permitted  to  frequent, 
trade,  and  to  reside  at  the  ports  of  Kwang-chow,  Amoy,  Fu- 
chow,  Ningpo,  and  Shanghai. 

In  June  occurred  a  rise  of  the  Missouri  and  the  middle  sec 
tion  of  the  Mississippi  rivers,  which  far  exceeded  all  former 
floods  of  those  rivers  ever  known,  destroying  an  immense 
amount  of  property. 

The  steamboat  Shepherdess,  while  ascending  the  Mississippi, 
about  eleven  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  2d  of  January,  struck 
a  snag  when  about  three  miles  south  of  St.  Louis.  In  less  than 
two  minutes  after  the  water  rose  to  the  lower  deck,  where  many 


120  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  the  passengers  were  sleeping.  Upwards  of  forty  lives  were 
lost  by  this  catastrophe.  On  the  25th  of  October,  three  of  the 
boilers  of  the  steamboat  Lucy  Walker  burst,  the  boat  caught 
fire,  and  over  fifty  lives  were  destroyed,  besides  several  persons 
injured.  This  calamity  took  place  on  the  Ohio,  near  New  Al 
bany,  Indiana.  More  than  eighty  persons  lost  their  lives  by  a 
collision  between  two  steamboats  on  the  Mississippi  on  the  1st 
of  March.  The  concussion  was  so  violent  as  to  sink  one  of  the 
boats  in  five  minutes. 

The  first  American  newspaper  established  on  the  Pacific 
coast  was  issued  at  Oregon  City,  and  called  the  Flumgudgeon 
Gazette,  or  Bumble  Bee  Budget.  The  Evening  Journal  was 
established  at  Chicago. 

The  Polka  dance  was  introduced  this  year  into  this  country; 
and  a  piece  entitled  "  Polka  Mania"  was  played  at  a  theatre  in 
New  York,  where  the  dance,  from  its  novelty,  attracted  great 
crowds  to  witness  the  performance. 

1845  On  the  4th  of  March,  James  K.  Polk  and  George  M.  Dallas 
commenced  their  terms  of  office  as  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States. 

Congress  passed  a  bill  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States,  wbich  was  signed  by  President  Tyler  on  the  3d 
of  March.  The  debate  upon  this  subject  had  been  long  and 
violent.  On  the  16th  of  June,  the  Texan  Congress  accepted  the 
terms  of  annexation,  and  on  the  4th  of  July  it  was  made  com 
plete.  In  December,  Texas  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a 
State,  with  a  constitution  permitting  slavery  within  her  limits. 
The  Convention  of  Texas  having  authorized  and  requested  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  occupy  and  establish  posts 
without  delay  upon  the  frontier  and  exposed  positions  of  that 
republic,  and  to  introduce  such  forces  as  were  deemed  necessary 
for  the  defence  of  the  territory  and  people  of  Texas,  an  "  army 
of  occupation"  was  despatched  from  the  United  States,  under 
the  command  of  General  Taylor,  and  on  the  26th  of  July  a 
body  of  United  States  troops  landed  from  steam-vessels,  at 
Aransas  Bay,  on  which  day  the  American  flag  was  first  planted 
in  Texas,  upon  the  south  end  Of  St.  Joseph's  Island.  This 
movement  and  the  measures  of  annexation  agreed  upon  by 
the  United  States  and  Texas,  were  looked  upon  by  the  Mexican 
Government  as  acts  of  hostility  towards  Mexico,  and  prepara 
tions  were  made  by  the  republic  for  an  appeal  to  arms. 

Congress  passed  acts  admitting  Florida  and  Iowa  into  the 
Union. 

Congress  reduced  the  rate  of  postage,  making  it  five  cents  on 
single  letters  not  exceeding  three  hundred  miles,  and  ten  cents 
over  that  distance. 

Congress  passed  an  act  fixing  the  Tuesday  after  the  first 
Monday  in  November  as  the  day  of  the  presidential  election  in 
all  the  States.  Heretofore  the  election  was  held  at  different 
times  in  the  different  States,  and  frequently  its  result  was  finally 
influenced  by  the  votes  in  the  States  which  held  the  first 
elections. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  121 

The  first  Express  business  established  west  of  Buffalo  went 
into  operation  in  April,  under  the  name  of  Wells  &  Company. 

Petroleum  was  obtained  in  boring  for  salt  near  Tarentum.  on 
the  Allegheny,  thirty-live  miles  above  Pittsburg.  Before  this, 
the  Seneca  Indians  gathered  supplies  of  it,  and  it  was  known 
as  Seneca  oil,  or  Genesee  oil,  from  its  being  found  also  near  the 
head  of  the  Gencscc  River. 

Atlanta,  Ga.,  was  laid  out  as  a  town. 

Improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  carpets  were  introduced, 
by  the  invention  of  machinery  for  making  Brussels  and 
tapestry  goods,  by  which  eighteen  to  twenty  yards  of  those 
carpets  could  be  manufactured  in  a  day,  against  four  or  five 
heretofore  made  by  hand.  By  the  improved  method  of  pro 
ducing  figures,  they  would  match,  which  operation  when  done 
by  hand  would  match  only  imperfectly. 

A  conflagration  occurred  at  Pittsburg,  on  the  10th  of  April, 
by  which  a  large  portion  of  the  city  was  laid  waste,  and  a  greater 
number  of  houses  destroyed  than  by  all  the  fires  which  had 
previously  visited  the  city.  Twenty  squares,  containing  about 
eleven  hundred  buildings,  with  their  contents,  were  destroyed, 
involving  a  loss,  as  estimated,  of  ten  millions  of  dollars.  A 
conflagration  occurred  at  New  York  on  the  19th  of  July,  de 
stroying  property  of  the  estimated  value  of  over  five  millions 
of  dollars,  including  three  hundred  and  forty -five  buildings. 
The  burned  district  embraced  New,  Broad,  Beaver,  Market- 
field,  Stone,  and  Whitehall  streets,  Exchange  Place,  and  lower 
Broadway. 

As  the  steamboat  Marquette  was  leaving  her  wharf  at  New 
Orleans,  on  the  1st  of  July,  all  her  boilers  exploded  simul 
taneously,  killing  about  fifty  persons.  On  the  night  of  the 
8th  of  January,  the  steamboat  Belle  Zane,  while  on  her  way 
from  Zanesville,  Ohio,  to  New  Orleans,  struck  a  snag  in  the 
Mississippi,  and  immediately  capsized.  Of  the  ninety  persons 
on  board,  only  fifty  escaped  drowning,  and  many  of  those  who 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore  were  afterwards  frozen  to 
death.  Others  suffered  amputation  of  their  limbs,  which  were 
badly  frozen. 

Mrs.  Anna  Cora  Mo  watt,  a  very  popular  actress,  made  her 
debut  at  the  Park  Theatre,  in  New  York,  on  the  13th  of  Jane. 
1846  The  northern  boundary  of  Oregon  was  settled  by  treaty 
between  the  British  Government  and  the  United  States,  on  the 
15th  of  June,  to  be  on  the  forty-ninth  degree  of  north  latitude. 
By  this  treaty  the  last  remaining  subject  of  controversy  between 
the  two  nations  was  removed,  and  the  relations  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  were  thus  placed  on  the  most  firm  and 
amicable  footing. 

Congress  declared  war  against  Mexico  on  the  13th  of  May, 
and  soon  passed  other  acts  for  carrying  it  on  with  vigor.  The 
army  under  General  Taylor  arrived  at  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rio  Grande  about  the  last  of  March,  and  occupied  a  position 
opposite  Matamoras.  The  Mexican  generals  commanding  their 
troops  on  the  Rio  Grande  declared  that  the  advance  of  the 


122  HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

American  army  was  a  hostile  movement,  and  commenced 
hostilities  by  capturing  a  detachment  of  American  troops  which 
were  out  on  a  reconnoitring  expedition.  The  Mexican  Govern 
ment  claimed  that  the  boundary  of  Texas  was  the  river  IS  ueces, 
while  the  Americans  claimed  that  the  territory  of  Texas  ex 
tended  to  the  Rio  Grande.  On  the  8th  of  May,  General  Taylor 
encountered  the  Mexicans  in  considerable  force  at  Palo  Alto, 
where  an  action  ensued,  and  the  Mexicans  were  defeated. 
On  the  next  day  the  hostile  forces  again  met  seven  miles  in 
advance,  when  the  Americans  were  again  victorious,  and  the 
Mexicans  retreated,  with  great  loss,  across  the  Rio  Grande. 
During  General  Taylor's  absence,  Fort  Brown,  opposite  Mata- 
moras,  was  bombarded  by  the  Mexican  batteries  from  the  4th 
to  the  9th  of  May.  After  establishing  his  base  of  opperations 
on  the  Rio  Grande,  General  Taylor,  on  the  18th  of  May,  took 
military  possession  of  the  city  of  Matamoras,  and  then  moved 
into  the  enemy's  country  in  the  direction  of  Monterey.  Another 
portion  of  the  army  under  General  Wool  was  concentrated  at 
San  Antonio  de  Bexar  for  a  movement  upon  Chihuahua.  The 
army  under  General  Taylor  arrived  before  Monterey,  on  the 
19th  of  September,  and  commenced  the  attack  on  that  strongly 
fortified  city  on  the  21st,  the  battle  continuing  through  that 
and  the  two  succeeding  days.  The  Americans  attacked  the 
enemy  in  his  fortified  position,  captured  his  batteries  and 
various  fortresses,  when  the  place  capitulated.  General  Wool 
penetrated  the  Department  of  Coahuila,  to  Monclova,  and 
afterwards  formed  a  junction  with  the  forces  under  General 
Taylor  at  Saltillo.  Another  army  under  the  command  of  Gene 
ral  Kearney,  moved  from  Fort  Leaveuworth  upon  Santa  Fe,. 
where  it  arrived,  after  a  march  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  miles,  on  the  18th  of  August,  and  took  military  possession 
of  New  Mexico  without  resistance.  After  establishing  a  civil 
government  for  that  territory,  General  Kearney  departed  with  a 
portion  of  his  forces  for  California.  On  his  route  thither  he  met 
an  express  sent  by  Commodore  Stockton  and  Captain  Fremont, 
who  reported  that  they  were  already  in  possession  of  California. 
On  receiving  this  intelligence,  General  Kearney  sent  back  a 
portion  of  his  troops  and  continued  his  march  to  California, 
where  he  arrived  in  December.  After  various  actions  and 
skirmishes  with  the  enemy,  the  American  forces  remained  in 
possession  of  the  Californias. 

Commodore  Stockton,  in  conjunction  with  Captain  Fremont, 
who  was  in  command  of  a  third  United  States  exploring  ex 
pedition,  conquered  California  after  a  few  skirmishes  with  the 
Mexicans,  and  established  a  civil  government  for  that  country. 

An  expedition,  consisting  of  two  ships  under  the  command  of 
Commodore  Biddle,  was  despatched  to  Japan  by  the  United 
States  to  open  negotiations  for  commerce  with  that  empire. 
The  expedition  reached  the  Bay  of  Jeddo  in  July,  but  being 
imperatively  refused  in  its  requests,  after  remaining  there  ten 
days  it  sailed  away  on  its  return  to  America,  without  accom 
plishing  the  object  of  the  voyage. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  123 

The  Mormons  having  been  persecuted  by  the  citizens  of 
Illinois,  and  having  found  that  they  could  not  practise  their 
religion  and  customs  in  that  State  without  continual  war  with 
the  inhabitants,  resolved  upon  removing  to  the  distant  wilder 
ness.  In  February,  a  portion  of  the  sect,  consisting  of  sixteen 
hundred  men,  women,  and  children,  crossed  the  Mississippi  on 
the  ice,  and  travelling  with  ox- teams  and  on  foot,  penetrated  the 
country  to  the  Indian  Territory,  near  Council  Bluffs,  on  the 
Missouri,  which  they  reached,  under  the  guidance  of  President 
Brigham  Young,  at  the  opening  of  summer.  From  that  place 
they  journeyed  on  until  the  following  spring,  when  they  settled 
upon  the  Great  Prairie  inhabited  by  the  Omahaws.  Here  they 
built  a  city  of  seven  hundred  houses,  a  tabernacle,  constructed 
mills  and  workshops,  and  established  a  newspaper.  They  sent 
missionaries  to  Oregon,  California,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and 
even  to  Australia,  to  secure  converts.  Some  were  sent  to  fix  a 
home  still  farther  away  from  civilization,  and  they  selected  the 
valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake  for  a  permanent  habitation.  In 
1848,  a  general  migration  of  the  Mormons  set  in  for  that  local 
ity.  The  New  Jerusalem  was  laid  out  within  an  area  of  four 
square  miles,  with  broad  streets  and  spacious  sidewalks.  The 
work  of  building  a  city  went  on  rapidly.  A  spacious  house 
was  built  for  Brigham  Young  and  his  council,  and  in  less  than 
two  years  after  the  advent  of  the  pioneers  in  the  valley,  a 
convention  was  called  at  Great  Salt  Lake  City  to  organize  a  civil 
government.  A  free  and  independent  government,  by  the  name 
of  the  State  of  Deseret,  was  ordained,  and  a  constitution  was 
adopted,  designed  to  remain  in  force  only  until  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  should  erect  the  settlement  into  a  Territory. 
A  Territorial  government  was  established  in  1850,  and  Brigham 
Young  was  appointed  governor  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  seat  of  government  for  Alabama  was  removed  from 
Tuscaloosa  to  Montgomery. 

A  patent  for  a  sewing-machine  was  granted  Elias  Howe,  Jr., 
on  the  10th  of  September.  This  was  the  first  complete  sewing- 
machine  designed  for  domestic  and  general  use.  From  this 
invention  started  the  immense  sewing-machine  business  of  this 
country.  At  first  Howe  met  with  disappointment  in  establish 
ing  its  introduction,  and  he  went  to  England,  where  he  met  the 
same  scepticism  as  to  its  merit  and  utility.  Returning  to  the 
United  States,  he  found  that  his  machine  was  imitated  and  in 
troduced,  and  he  became  involved  in  law-suits,  which  continued 
until  1854.  when  the  principal  infringers  acknowledged  his 
rights,  and  arranged  to  manufacture  sewing-machines  under 
licenses  from  him. 

The  discovery  that  sulphuric  ether,  when  inhaled,  produced 
insensibility  to  pain,  was  made  this  year. 

The  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  completed  the  line  of 
telegraph  between  Philadelphia  and  Fort  Lee,  on  the  New  Jersey 
side  of  the  Hudson,  opposite  Audubon's,  on  the  upper  end  of 
New  York  Island,  and  from  the  latter  place  into  the  city  on  the 


124  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

20th  of  January.  Communication  between  Fort  Lee  and  Audu- 
bon's  was  first  established  by  means  of  a  cotton- covered  copper 
wire  saturated  with  pitch  and  enclosed  in  a  lead-pipe  laid  on  the 
bottom  of  the  river;  but  that  plan  soon  proving  to  be  a  failure, 
messages  were  conveyed  between  the  twro  points  by  boatmen. 
Soon  afterwards  the  New  Jersey  termination  was  changed  to 
Jersey  City,  and  messages  were  taken  across  the  river  by  ferry 
at  frequent  intervals,  and  delivered  in  New  York.  Soon  after 
the  completion  of  the  Newr  York  and  Philadelphia  line,  the 
capital  of  the  company  was  enlarged  sufficiently  to  pay  the 
expense  of  its  continuation  to  Baltimore,  which  line  was  com 
pleted  on  the  5th  of  June.  The  cash  receipts  of  the  business  of 
the  company  during  this  year  W7ere  forty-two  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  dollars.  In  September,  a  telegraph  line  was  com 
pleted  between  Philadelphia  and  Harrisburg,  and  on  the  29th 
of  December  it  was  extended  to  Pittsburg,  and  opened  for 
business.  On  the  3d  of  July,  telegraphic  communication  was 
opened  between  Boston  and  Buffalo,  and  between  New  York 
and  Albany  on  the  9th  of  September.  The  line  between  Boston 
and  New  York  was  completed  on  the  27th  of  June. 

The  lower  section  of  the  Northern  Railroad  in  New  Hamp 
shire  was  opened  this  year,  and  the  whole  road  completed  in 
the  next  year. 

1847  On  the  22d  of  February  was  fought  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista,  near  Saltillo,  the  capital  of  Coahuila,  by  the  American 
troops  under  General  Taylor,  and  the  Mexican  army  under 
General  Santa  Anna.  The  latter  consisted  of  twenty  thousand 
men,  while  the  American  forces  were  less  than  one  fourth  that 
number,  not  five  hundred  of  whom  were  regulars.  The  action 
continued  two  days,  after  which  the  Americans  were  left  in 
possession  of  the  field,  and  the  Mexicans  retreated  to  San  Luis 
Potosi.  The  loss  on  both  sides  was  severe — that  of  the  Mexicans 
over  fifteen  hundred,  and  of  the  Americans  about  seven  hun 
dred  and  fifty,  in  killed  and  wounded. 

During  the  month  of  February  an  American  land  and  naval 
force  was  concentrated  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  military 
being  under  the  command  of  Major-General  Scott,  and  the  naval 
forces  under  Commodore  Connor,  who  was  afterwards  relieved 
by  Commodore  Perry.  On  the  9th  of  March,  the  troops  were 
debarked  at  Vera  Cruz,  and  on  the  following  clay  a  rapid  fire  of 
shot  and  shells  was  opened  from  the  city  and  castle,  upon  the 
position  occupied  by  the  American  army.  The  landing  of  the 
mortars  and  guns  for  the  American  batteries  was  delayed  for  a 
few  days;  consequently  the  arrangements  for  a  bombardment 
were  not  completed  until  the  22d  of  March,  when  General  Scott 
summoned  the  city  to  surrender,  which  demand  was  refused  by 
the  Mexican  governor.  Orders  were  then  given  to  fire  upon 
the  city,  and  a  continued  fire  from  the  American  batteries  was 
kept  up  with  terrible  effect  until  the  26th  of  March,  when  the 
batteries  ceased  playing,  and  articles  of  capitulation  were  signed 
on  the  following  day.  The  surrender  of  the  city  took  place  on 
the  morning  of  the  29th,  when  the  Mexican  soldiers  marched 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  125 

out  to  a  plain  one  mile  outside  of  the  town,  where  the  Ameri 
cans  were  drawn  up  to  receive  them.  The  Mexicans  laid  down 
their  arms  and  departed  for  the  interior.  A  succession  of 
tattles  with  uniform  success  was  fought  by  the  army  under 
General  Scott,  on  their  march  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  city  of 
Mexico.  On  the  18th  of  April,  they  fought  a  battle  at  Cerro' 
Cordo  with  a  Mexican  army  of  twelve  thousand  men,  com 
manded  by  Santa  Anna,  in  which  the  Mexicans  were  defeated 
with  a  loss  of  one  thousand  in  killed  and  wounded  left  on  the 
field,  and  three  thousand  prisoners.  General  Scott's  force  con 
sisted  of  eighty-five  hundred  men,  and  his  loss  was  four  hun 
dred  and  thirty.  In  August  the  American  army,  recruited  to 
the  number  of  about  eleven  thousand  men,  advanced  upon  the 
city  of  Mexico.  On  the  20th  one  of  the  fortresses  defending 
that  city  was  assaulted  and  taken,  with  about  one  thousand 
prisoners,  the  Mexicans  losing  about  fifteen  hundred  men  in 
killed  and  wounded.  On  the  same  day  the  battle  of  Churu- 
busco  was  fought,  in  which  a  Mexican  army  of  about  thirty 
thousand  men  was  engaged,  and  they  were  again  defeated,  leav 
ing  the  city  at  the  mercy  of  the  Americans.  In  this  battle  the 
Mexicans  lost  ten  thousand  men,  one  fourth  of  whom  were 
prisoners,  the  rest  killed  and  wounded.  An  armistice  was 
soon  concluded  with  Santa  Anna  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating 
a  peace.  In  September  hostilities  commenced  again,  each 
party  accusing  the  other  of  violating  the  armistice.  On  the  8th 
the  Americans  stormed  and  carried  the  fortified  works  of 
Molino  del  Rey,  the  Mexicans  losing  about  twenty-eight  hun 
dred  men,  the  Americans  eight  hundred.  On  the  13th  Chapul- 
tepec  was  assaulted  and  carried,  and  the  Mexicans  defeated  with 
great  loss.  On  the  14th,  the  Americans  entered  and  took  pos 
session  of  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  hostilities  ceased  from  this 
time. 

On  the  29th  of  November,  a  party  of  Indians  attacked  the 
fortified  post  at  Walla  Walla,  in  Oregon,  murdered  fifteen 
Americans,  and  carried  away  captive  sixty -one  prisoners.  Upon 
the  receipt  of  the  news  in  the  Willamette  settlements,  troops 
were  raised  and  an  expedition  sent  against  the  Indians,  who 
were  defeated  in  three  battles,  and  their  villages  and  crops  de 
stroyed. 

The  first  American  school  in  Minnesota  was  established  this 
year  at  St.  Paul. 

The  city  of  Indianapolis  was  chartered,  and,  on  the  1st  of 
May,  organized  under  a  city  government.  At  this  period  the 
place  contained  a  population  of  about  six  thousand.  The  first 
wholesale  dry-goods  house  was  established. 

The  first  theatre  in  Chicago  was  opened  on  the  28th  of  June. 
The  Chicago  Tribune  issued  its  first  number. 

The  first  importation  of  gutta  percha  into  the  United  States 
was  made;  Twenty- five  thousand  pounds  arrived  direct  from 
Singapore. 

The  zinc-mines  in  Lehigh  County,  Pennsylvania,  were  dis 
covered  this  year. 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  first  successful  type-revolving  press  in  this  or  any  other 
-country  was  made  by  R.  Hoe  &  Col,  in  New  York. 

Several  lines  of  telegraph  were  completed  this  year,  in  differ 
ent  sections  of  the  country,  and  from  this  time  they  continued 
to  spread  in  every  direction. 

On  the  19th  of  November,  two  steamboats  came  in  collision 
on  the  Mississippi,  near  Cape  Girardeau.  One  of  the  boats  sunk, 
drowning  more  than  fifty  persons.  Two  days  afterwards,  in 
the  morning  before  daylight,  the  steamer  Phrenix,  on  Lake  Mich 
igan,  near  Sheboygan,  caught  fire,  and  more  than  one  hundred 
and  sixty  persons,  principally  emigrants  from  Holland,  were 
burned  to  death  or  drowned.  On  the  29th  of  December,  the 
steamboat  A.  N.  Johnson  exploded  her  boiler,  on  the  Ohio, 
about  twelve  miles  above  Maysville,  Ky.,  killing  from  sixty  to 
eighty  persons,  and  injuring  many  others. 

1848  A  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  on  the  2<1  of  February,  at  the 
city  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  between  the  Mexican  commission 
ers  and  Mr.  Trist  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  By  this 
treaty  the  Rio  Grande  was  acknowledged  as  one  of  the  bounda 
ries  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  thus  confirming  the 
claims  of  the  United  States  to  Texas,  and  the  territory  between 
the  river  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande.  New  Mexico  and  Cali 
fornia  were  ceded  to  the  United  States,  in  consideration  of 
which  the  United  States  agreed  to  pay  to  Mexico  the  sum  of 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars;  and  to  assume  the  claims  due  her  citi 
zens,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  three  and  one  fourth  millions 
of  dollars.  The  treaty  was  duly  ratified  by  the  Mexican  Con 
gress  and  the  United  States  Senate. 

Oregon  was  erected  into  a  Territory,  and  Wisconsin  admitted 
into  the  Union. 

At  the  presidential  election  this  year,  the  Democratic  party 
voted  for  Lewis  Cass  for  President,  and  William  O.  Butler 
for  Vice-President.  The  candidates  of  the  Whig  parly  were 
General  Zachary  Taylor  for  President,  and  Millard  Fillmpre 
for  Vice-President.  The  agitation  of  the  question  of  restrict 
ing  or  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexi 
co  by  the  United  States,  caused  the  formation  of  a  third  party, 
called  the  Free-Soil  party,  merging  in  its  ranks  most  of  those 
who  had  been  organized  as  abolitionists,  and  drawing  addition 
al  strength  from  both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  in  the 
Northern  States.  This  party  nominated  Martin  Van  Buren  for 
President,  and  Charles  Francis  Adams  for  Vice-President. 
The  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  the  Whig  candidates,  each 
of  whom  received  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  electoral  votes. 
The  Democratic  candidates  received,  each,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven.  The  Free- Soil  candidates  obtained  no  electoral 
votes,  but  polled  over  two  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  of  the 
popular  vote. 

Gold  was  discovered  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  California, 
early  in  the  year.  This  fact  got  noised  abroad,  and  in  about 
three  months  upwards  of  four  thousand  persons  were  at  work 
there,  digging  for  gold  and  achieving  remarkable  success. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  127 

Further  explorations  showed  that  deposits  of  gold  extended 
over  a  vast  extent  of  country.  This  discovery  at  once  changed 
the  character  of  California.  Its  people,  before  engaged  in  cul 
tivating  small  patches  of  ground  and  guarding  their  herds  of 
cattle  and  horses,  flocked  to  the  mines,  and  the  fever  of  getting 
suddenly  rich  raged  among  and  pervaded  the  entire  commun 
ity. 

The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  was  incorporated. 

The  manufacture  of  gutta-percha  was  commenced  in  this 
country  this  year.  The  first  submarine  cable,  in  this  or  any 
other  country,  insulated  with  gutta-percha,  was  laid  across  the 
Passaic  and  Hudson  rivers  for  the  telegraph  line  between  Phil 
adelphia  and  New  York. 

The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  connecting  Lake  Michigan 
with  the  Illinois  River,  at  La  Salle,  was  completed  in  the 
spring. 

The  suspension  bridge  across  the  Ohio  at  Wheeling  was 
completed.  Its  span  was  ten  hundred  and  ten  feet. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  monument  to  General  Washington, 
was  laid  at  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  4th  of  July. 

The  first  importation  of  guano  into  this  country  was  made 
this  year.  One  thousand  pounds  were  received. 

The  first  satisfactory  experiment  of  recording  time  from  a 
clock  stationed  at  a  distance  was  made  on  the  17th  of  Novem 
ber.  A  delicate  clock  was  especially  contrived  and  wires  were 
put  up  for  the  purpose,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States 
Coast  Survey,  between  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburg.  a  distance  of 
four  hundred  miles.  The  clock  placed  in  the  electric  circuit 
recorded  its  beats  at  all  the  offices  along  the  line  upon  a  gradu 
ated  fillet  of  paper,  on  the  plan  of  the  Morse  apparatus. 

St.  Louis  and  Brooklyn  were  both  lighted  with  gas  this  year, 
for  the  first  time. 

A  conflagration  in  Brooklyn  on  the  9th  of  September  de 
stroyed  about  three  hundred  buildings  and  property  valued  at 
one  and  one  half  millions  of  dollars.  The  blocks  bounded  by 
Fulton,  Henry,  and  Orange  streets,  and  Fulton,  Sands,  Wash 
ington,  and  Concord  streets,  were  laid  waste. 

The  Cochituate  water  was  introduced  into  Boston  on  the  25th 
of  October. 

The  phenomena  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  called  "Rochester 
Knocking^,"  appeared  this  year,  which  soon  caused  not  only 
great  excitement  at  that  place,  but  was  a  subject  of  wonder  and 
newspaper  comment  throughout  the  country.  Mysterious  rap- 
pings  occurred  in  the  houses  of  "mediums,"  as  they  were  called, 
which  appeared  to  answer  questions  put  by  visitors.  Much 
excitement  was  manifested  in  several  places  in  the  country, 
and,  many  people  believing  the  communications  and  the  phe 
nomena  proceeded  from  spirits,  they  began  to  be  designated 
as  Spiritualists. 

A  fourth  exploring  expedition  under  John  C.  Fremont  left 
the  Upper  Pueblo  Fort,  near  the  head  of  Arkansas  River,  on 
the  25th  of  November.  The  previous  expeditions  of  Fremont 


128  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

were  for  the  benefit  of  the  government,  but  this  one  was  a  pri 
vate  enterprise,  with  a  principal  object  in  view  of  discovering 
a  proper  highway  connecting  the  Mississippi  River  with  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

A  terrible  catastrophe  attended  an  excursion  on  the  Poto 
mac,  on  the  28th  of  February,  of  the  United  States  steamer 
Princeton,  by  the  explosion  of  a  gun,  the  power  of  which  was 
being  exhibited.  Mr.  Upshur,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr. 
Gilmer,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  were  killed,  and  several  dis 
tinguished  persons  seriously  injured.  On  the  27th  of  May,  the 
steamer  Clarksville,  a  regular  packet-boat  plying  between  New 
Orleans  and  Memphis,  was  destroyed  by  fire  near  Ozark  Island, 
by  which  disaster  thirty  passengers  ana  nearly  all  the  crew  lost 
their  lives.  On  the  9th  of  August,  a  flue  on  the  steamer  Ed 
ward  Bates  collapsed  on  the  Mississippi,  near  Hamburg,  111., 
causing  the  death  of  fifty-three  persons,  and  wounding  forty 
others.  Twenty  eight  persons  were  killed  and  several  wounded 
by  the  bursting  of  the  boilers  of  the  steamer  Concordia  at 
Plaqueminc,  La.,  on  the  16th  of  September. 

1849     On  the  5th  of    March,  Zachary  Taylor,  as  President,  and 
Millard  Fillmore,  as  Vice-President,  took  the  oaths  of  office. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  Congress  passed  an  act  for  organizing 
Minnesota  under  a  Territorial  government.  St.  Paul,  con 
taining  at  this  time  but  a  few  log-huts,  was  made  the  seat  of 
government. 

The  United  States  ship  Preble,  forming  a  part  of  the  Ameri 
can  fleet  in  the  China  seas,  sailed  for  Japan  in  February  to  res 
cue  sixteen  American  seamen,  who  had  been  shipwrecked  on 
the  coasts  of  some  of  the  Japanese  islands,  and  had  there 
been  detained  and  imprisoned.  As  the  ship  approached  the 
coast  of  Japan,  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  oppose 
her  progress,  and  the  object  of  her  visit  was  attained  only  after 
threats  of  violent  measures  if  the  demand  were  further  refused. 

The  cholera  visited  America  again  this  year.  The  disease 
prevailed  at  New  Orleans  nearly  eight  months,  carrying  off 
about  thirty-five  hundred  persons.  Almost  every  vessel  which 
left  the  city  had  cases  on  board,  which  spread  the  disease  over 
different  sections  of  the  country.  The  deaths  from  cholera  in 
Memphis  were  290;  Nashville,  805;  St.  Louis,  4557;  Chicago, 
678;  Buffalo,  858;  Sandusky,  285;  Albany,  334;  Boston,  611; 
New  York,  5071;  and  Philadelphia,  1022. 

Information  of  the  gold  discoveries  in  California  spread  in 
every  direction,  and  adventurers  flocked  there  from  all  quar 
ters;  from  the  Pacific  coast  of  Mexico  and  South  America,  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  China.  The  American  emigration 
commenced  to  arrive  there  by  sea  in  July  and  August,  and  by 
overland  in  September.  It  was  estimated  there  were  fifteen 
thousand  foreigners  there  in  July.  At  a  place  called  Sonorian 
Camp  it  was  supposed  there  were  ten  thousand  Mexicans  alone. 
They  had  quite  a  city  of  booths,  tents,  and  log-cabins,  hotels, 
stores,  and  shops  of  all  descriptions.  An  enclosure  made  of  the 
trunks  of  trees,  and  lined  with  cotton-cloth,  served  as  an  am 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  129 

phitheatre  for  bull- fights  and  other  amusements.  The  foreign 
ers  resorted  principally  to  the  southern  mines,  the  Americans 
to  the  northern.  The  first  season  the  laborers  averaged  about 
one  ounce  of  gold  per  day.  It  was  estimated  that  during  this 
and  the  preceding  year  gold  to  the  value  of  about  forty  mil 
lions  of  dollars  was  collected,  one  half  of  which  was  taken 
out  of  the  country  by  foreigners.  The  first  regular  banking- 
house  established  in  California  was  started  at  San  Francisco  on 
the  9th  of  January.  In  January,  the  first  frame  house  on  the 
banks  of  the  Sacramento  was  erected  at  Sutter's  Fort.  Some 
few  months  later,  the  settlers  at  that  place  removed  to  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Sacramento. 

In  June,  Rev.  Theobald  Mathew,  commonly  called  "Father 
Mathew,"  arrived  in  New  York,  whence  he  visited  many  of 
the  important  cities  of  the  Union,  and  delivered  lectures  upon 
temperance  to  immense  audiences. 

Edwin  Booth,  the  celebrated  tragedian,  at  this  time  not 
quite  sixteen  years  of  age,  made  his  first  appearance  on  the 
stage  at  the  Boston  Museum,  on  the  10th  of  September. 

The  first  degree  of  "  M.D."  given  in  the  United  States  to  a 
woman  was  received  by  Elizabeth  Blackwell  from  the  Medical 
School  of  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  after  she  had  made  unsuccessful  ap 
plications  at  the  schools  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and 
Boston. 

The  first  newspaper  in  St.  Paul  was  established  there  on  the 
28th  of  April,  under  the  name  of  the  Pioneer. 

The  New  York  Associated  Press  Association  was  formed.  It 
was  composed  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  Courier  and  En 
quirer,  Tribune,  Herald,  Sun,  and  Express. 

In  the  month  of  May,  occurred  at  New  York  what  has  been 
known  as  the  Astor  Place  Riot.  In  consequence  of  an  un 
friendliness  of  long  standing  between  Mr.  Edwin  Forrest  and 
Macready,  the  celebrated  English  tragedian,  the  friends  of  the 
former  actor  threatened  to  prevent  the  appearance,  as  an 
nounced,  of  Mr.  Macready  in  New  York.  On  the  night  of  the 
7th,  when  he  appeared  as  "  Macbeth"  at  the  Opera  House  in  As 
tor  Place,  such  was  the  confusion  prevailing  in  all  parts  of  the 
house,  the  manager  was  obliged  to  drop  the  curtain  before  the 
termination  of  the  performance.  Mr.  Macready  was  thereupon 
inclined  to  cancel  his  engagement;  but  upon  the  publication  of 
a  card  signed  by  many  citizens,  requesting  him  to  continue, 
and  promising  to  protect  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  he 
consented  to  perform  on  the  evening  of  the  10th.  On  that  oc 
casion,  owing  to  the  precautions  taken  to  preserve  order  in  the 
house,  he  succeeded  in  acting  his  part,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
play  was  called  out  by  the  audience,  whom  he  thanked  for  his 
protection  and  support.  Outside  the  theatre,  the  friends  of 
Forrest,  after  vainly  endeavoring  to  effect  an  entrance,  com 
menced  an  attack  on  the  building  with  stones  and  missiles. 
The  police  being  unable  to  restrain  the  mob,  which  was  in 
creasing  in  numbers  and  violence,  and  the  reading  of  the  riot 
act  proving  ineffectual,  the  military  were  called  out  and  were 


130  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

obliged  to  discharge  several  volleys  of  musketry  to  quell  the 
disturbance.  Twenty-two  persons  were  killed  and  thirty -six 
wounded.  Mr.  Macready  escaped  in  disguise,  and,  making  no 
further  attempt  to  perform  in  New  York,  he  soon  left  the 
country. 

A  fire  on  the  17th  of  May  destroyed  a  large  part  of  the  busi 
ness  portion  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  involving  a  loss,  as  esti 
mated,  of  three  millions  of  dollars. 

In  March,  a  flood  devastated  the  city  of  New  Orleans 
which  was  the  most  destructive  that  ever  visited  that  place. 
Many  of  the  streets  were  ten  feet  under  water,  and  a  large 
amount  of  merchandise  was  destroyed.  The  plantations  above 
were  overflowed,  and  the  rush  of  water  over  the  fields  in  some 
places  was  irresistible,  carrying  away  everything  which  op 
posed  the  current,  which  was  believed  to  move  at  the  rate  of 
sixty  miles  an  hour.  The  damage  sustained  by  planters  and 
others  was  estimated  at  sixty  millions  of  dollars. 
1850  On  the  9th  of  July,  President  Taylor  died,  and  Millard  Fill- 
more  succeeded  him  in  office. 

In  September,  Congress  passed  bills,  after  a  vehement  and 
protracted  struggle  upon  the  slavery  question,  for  the  admis 
sion  of  California  into  the  Union  as  a  State ;  for  providing 
Territorial  governments  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico  ;  for  the 
suppression  of  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  and 
a  fugitive-slave  bill.  The  bill  authorizing  the  admission  of 
California  into  the  Union  recognized  the  constitution  of  that 
State  as  framed  by  a  convention  €>f  the  people  which  prohi 
bited  slavery  within  her  borders.  The  fugitive-slave  bill  im 
posed  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars,  and  six  months'  imprison 
ment  on  any  person  harboring  fugitive  slaves,  or  aiding  them 
to  escape.  It  was  estimated  that  there  were  more  than  twenty 
thousand  fugitive  slaves  residing  in  the  free  States,  a  large 
number  of  whom  had  intermarried  with  free  persons,  and  the 
passage  of  this  bill  struck  terror  upon  the  whole  colored  popu 
lation  and  their  sympathizing  friends.  Public  meetings  were 
held  in  different  sections  of  the  Northern  States  in  condemna 
tion  of  the  bill.  Eight  days  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  an 
agent  armed  with  the  power  of  attorney  from  a  slave-owner  in 
Maryland,  appeared  in  New  York  in  search  of  one  James 
Hamlit,  a  husband  and  father,  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  a  resident  in  the  city  three  years.  He  was  seized 
while  at  work,  hurried  into  a  retired  room,  tried  in  haste, 
delivered  to  the  agent,  handcuffed,  taken  away  without  an 
opportunity  to  bid  farewell  to  his  family,  and  put  into  prison 
in  Baltimore.  A  few  days  afterwards,  a  similar  scene  was  en 
acted  in  Philadelphia.  In  Detroit  an  attempt  to  arrest  a  fugi 
tive  excited  a  popular  resistance,  to  suppress  which  it  was 
necessary  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  military. 

Congress  passed  an  act  donating  the  right  of  way  and  a  grant 
of  land  to  the  States  of  Illinois,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama,  in 
aid  of  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  Chicago  to  Mobile. 

Popular  interest  was  excited  this  year  by  an  invasion  of  Cuba 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  131 

from  the  American  shores.  An  expedition  of  three  hundred 
men,  under  the  command  of  General  Lopez,  sailed  from  New 
Orleans  on  the  25th  of  April  and  the  2d  of  May,  and  landed 
at  Cardenas  on  the  19th  of  May.  A  brief  struggle  ensued  be 
tween  the  invaders  and  the  Cuban  troops,  in  which  the  latter 
were  repulsed;  an  attack  was  then  made  on  the  governor's 
palace,  which  was  plundered,  a  large  amount  of  money  seized, 
and  the  governor  taken  prisoner.  The  invaders  had  counted 
upon  accessions  to  their  ranks  from  the  Spanish  army  and  from 
the  disaffected  inhabitants.  In  this,  however,  they  were  en 
tirely  disappointed,  and  Lopez  re-embarked  with  a  few  of  his 
companions,  and  made  his  escape  to  New  Orleans,  leaving  the 
great  body  of  his  followers  behind.  These  were  taken  prison 
ers  by  the  Cuban  authorities,  but  were  subsequently  released 
upon  a  demand  of  the  United  States  Government.  Lopez  was 
arrested  upon  his  arrival  in  the  United  States  on  a  charge  of 
having  violated  the  neutrality  laws. 

An  expedition  fitted  out  by  the  government,  at  the  expense  of 
Mr.  Henry  Grinnell  of  New  York,  sailed  from  that  city  on  the 
24th  of  May,  for  the  arctic  regions,  in  search  of  Sir  John 
Franklin.  It  consisted  of  two  ships  under  the  command  of 
Captain  De  Haven,  and  returned  in  October  of  the  next  year 
without  accomplishing  the  object  of  the  voyage. 

The  number  of  inhabitants  in  Williamsburg,  L.  I.,  was 
estimated  at  thirty-one  thousand.  The  first  directory  was  pub 
lished  and  a  gas  company  organized. 

The  cities  of  Nashville,  Chicago,  and  Lowell  were  lighted 
with  gas.  In  Chicago  a  Board  of  Trade  was  established. 

The  first  establishment  west  of  the  Alleghanies  for  the  manu 
facture  of  copper  and  brass  was  started  near  Pittsburg.  This 
was  the  first  factory  in  the  United  States  projected  for  work 
ing  American  copper  exclusively. 

F.  B.  Conway  made  his  first  appearance  in  America,  at  the 
Broadway  Theatre  in  New  York,  on  the  19th  of  August ;  and 
at  the  same  place,  Madame  Ponisi  appeared  in  this  country  for 
the  first  time,  on  the  llth  of  November.  On  the  4th  of  the  same 
month,  Signorina  Teresa  Parodi  commenced  an  engagement 
at  the  Astor  Place  Opera  House,  in  the  same  city. 

Jenny  Lind  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  1st  of  September, 
amid  great  enthusiasm  of  the  people,  and  demonstrations  of 
welcome  far  exceeding  any  which  had  ever  before  greeted  the 
arrival  in  America  of  any  foreign  songstress  or  actor.  On  the 
evening  of  her  arrival  she  was  serenaded  by  The  New  York 
Musical  Fund  Society,  numbering  on  that  occasion  two  hun 
dred  musicians.  On  the  llth  she  made  her  first  appearance  on 
the  stage  in  America  at  Castle  Garden,  and  this  concert  was  fol 
lowed  by  five  others.  The  number  of  persons  present  on  each 
occasion  exceeded  seven  thousand.  The  receipts  on  the  first 
night  were  about  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  Jenny  Lind  im 
mediately  bestowed  ten  thousand  upon  several  of  the  worthiest 
charities  of  the  city.  During  the  next  nine  months  she  gave 
ninety-three  concerts  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  Union  and 


132  HISTOEY    OP   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

at  Havana,  -which  produced  receipts,  as  it  was  stated,  of  up 
wards  of  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  Galena  and  Chicago  Union  Railroad  was  completed 
from  Chicago  to  Elgin,  111.,  a  distance  forty-two  miles.  This 
was  the  first  road  built  from  Chicago  running  in  any  direction, 
and  the  first  one  in  the  State.  It  was  chartered  in  1836,  but 
its  construction  was  not  commenced,  on  account  of  the  finan 
cial  situation  of  the  country,  until  the  year  1847,  at  which  time 
the  first  rail  was  laid. 

A  fire  occurred  in  Philadelphia  on  the  9th  of  July,  destroy 
ing  property  exceeding  one  million  of  dollars  in  value, 
causing  a  loss  of  thirty -five  lives,  and  injuring  about  one  hun 
dred  more  persons.  The  area  swept  by  the  fire  was  one  of  the 
most  densely  populated  in  the  city,  occupied  principally  by 
poor  people,  who  suffered  greatly  by  the  calamity.  A  fire 
destroyed  about  three  hundred  buildings  and  much  valuable 
property  in  San  Francisco,  on  the  14th  of  June. 

A  new  steamer,  called  the  Anglo-Norman,  left  New  Orleans 
on  the  14th  of  December,  on  an  experimental  trip,  having  on 
board  a  large  pleasure-party,  consisting  of  two  hundred  and 
ten  persons.  Soon  after  starting,  all  her  boilers  exploded,  kill 
ing  and  wounding  nearly  half  the  people  on  board. 
1851  Congress  passed  an  act  fixing  the  rates  of  postage  on  letters  at 
three  cents  on  single  letters  if  prepaid,  and  five  cents  if  not  pre 
paid,  on  all  distances  under  three  thousand  miles,  and  double 
those  rates  over  that  distance. 

An  act  was  passed  authorizing  the  President  to  send  a  gov 
ernment  vessel  to  the  Mediterranean  to  bring  Kossuth,  the  Hun 
garian  general,  and  other  exiles  among  his  countrymen,  to  the 
United  States.  In  September,  the  United  States  steamship 
Mississippi  sailed  from  Constantinople  through  the  Dardanelles 
to  Kutaya,  where  Kossuth  and  his  comrades  embarked.  The 
ship  proceeded  to  Marseilles,  but  being  refused  a  passage 
through  France  by  the  French  Government,  Kossuth  remained 
on  board  the  steamer  until  she  reached  Gibraltar.  Having  de 
termined  to  make  a  hasty  visit  to  England,  he  left  the  Ameri 
can  ship,  and  proceeded  to  Southampton  in  an  English  steamer. 
Having  received  a  cordial  welcome  from  the  people  of  several 
parts  of  England,  Kossuth  embarked  for  the  United  States  in 
the  steamer  Humboldt,  and  arrived  in  the  harbor  of  New  York 
on  the  5th  of  December.  He  remained  in  that  city  for  some 
days  as  its  guest,  receiving  great  demonstrations  of  respect  and 
sympathy.  His  entry  into  the  city  was  celebrated  by  a  grand 
military  and  civic  procession,  amid  a  vast  concourse  of  people 
assembled  to  welcome  him.  His  address  on  the  occasion  was 
remarkable  for  its  bold  and  dignified  sentiments,  and  for  the 
highest  order  of  eloquence.  On  the  llth  a  banquet  was  given 
him  by  the  city  council,  and  afterwards  various  other  enter 
tainments  were  given  him  in  the  city,  and  deputations  of 
citizens  of  different  classes,  and  from  various  parts  of  the 
United  States,  waited  on  him  with  their  welcome.  From  New 
York  Kossuth  proceeded  to  Washington,  stopping  on  his  way 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  133 

at  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  where  he  was  welcomed  as  in 
New  York.  On  the  31st  he  was  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  on  which  occasion  he  expressed  his  gratitude 
for  himself,  his  associates,  and  his  country,  and  for  the  encourage 
ment  and  sympathy  shown  by  our  government  for  the  Hunga 
rian  cause.  Kossuth  visited  various  sections  of  the  Union,  and 
was  received  everywhere  with  demonstrations  of  welcome  and 
enthusiasm  for  himself  and  his  cause.  Kossuth  at  length  re 
turned  to  New  York,  whence  he  embarked  for  England,  in 
July,  1852. 

Another  invasion  of  Cuba,  by  four  hundred  and  eighty  men 
under  General  Lopez,  took  place  on  the  llth  of  August.  Many 
of  his  followers  were  killed,  and  others  taken  prisoners  and 
shot.  Lopez  himself  was  taken  captive,  and  executed  on  the 
1st  of  September. 

Several  attempts  were  made  in  the  Northern  States  by  agents 
of  Southern  slave-owners  to  seize  their  fugitive  slaves.  Some 
of  the  fugitives  were  rescued  by  force  and  others  by  subscrip 
tions  raised  and  paid  for  their  freedom. 

Davenport,  Iowa,  was  incorporated  under  a  city  charter.  It 
Contained,  at  this  period,  a  population  of  about  two  thousand. 

The  Hudson  River  Railroad  was  completed  between  New 
York  and  Albany,  and  opened  for  travel  on  the  8th  of  October. 
The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  completed  in  April, 
from  Dunkirk,  on  Lake  Erie,  to  Piermont,  on  the  Hudson 
River.  The  formal  celebration  of  the  opening  of  the  road  took 
place  on  the  14th  of  May,  and  among  the  distinguished  guests 
who  attended  were  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 
some  members  of  his  Cabinet. 

The  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  connecting  the  Ohio  River  at 
Evansville,  Ind.,  with  Lake  Erie,  at  Toledo,  a  distance  of  four 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  miles,  was  completed. 

The  first  iron-front  building  in  Indianapolis  was  erected. 

The  first  number  of  the  New  York  Times  appeared  on  the 
18th  of  September.  The  first  newspaper  published  in  Minne 
sota,  outside  of  St.  Paul,  was  issued  during  the  last  week  in 
May,  and  called  The  St.  Antfwny  Express. 

Lola  Montes,  the  famous  danseuse,  made  her  first  appearance 
on  the  stage  in  the  United  States,  at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  in 
New  York,  on  the  29th  of  December.  Her  world-renowned 
adventures  had  given  her  name  a  celebrity,  which  attracted 
great  crowds  in  New  York  and  the  principal  cities  of  the  coun 
try  where  she  visited. 

Crimes  against  property  and  the  person  had  become  so  fre 
quent  in  San  Francisco,  that  numbers  of  the  citizens  formed 
themselves  into  a  Vigilance  Committee,  and  adopted  measures 
for  the  punishment  of  crime  more  sure  and  summary  than 
those  furnished  by  the  administration  of  law. 

A  conflagration  in  San  Francisco,  on  the  3d  of  May,  destroyed 
a  large  part  of  the  business  portion  of  the  city.  Twenty -five 
hundred  buildings  were  consumed,  involving  a  loss  of  three  and 
a  half  millions  of  dollars.  The  custom-house,  seven  hotels, 


134  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  the  post-office  were  among  those  burned.  On  the  22d  of 
June  another  tire  occurred  at  the  same  place,  which  destroyed 
five  hundred  buildings,  involving  a  loss  of  three  millions  of 
dollars. 

In  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Iowa,  and  along  the  whole  course 
of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  great  damage  was  done,  in  June,  by 
an  unusual  and  long- continued  flood  of  that  river.  Many 
towns  of  considerable  size  were  quite  overflowed.  At  St.  Louis, 
during  the  greater  part  of  that  month,  the  levee  was  entirely 
submerged,  and  all  the  stores  on  Front  Street  filled  with  wa 
ter  to  the  depth  of  several  feet.  For  a  vast  extent  along  the 
Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  their  tributaries,  the  bottom-lands 
were  submerged  for  so  long  a  time  as  to  destroy  the  growing 
crops. 

A  sad  accident  occurred  in  New  York  on  the  27th  of  No 
vember.  In  a  large  public  school  in  the  Ninth  Ward  one  of 
the  teachers  was  seized  with  paralysis.  The  circumstance 
alarmed  her  pupils,  and  their  screams  created  a  sudden  panic 
throughout  the  whole  school.  Immense  numbers  rushed  to 
the  stairs,  the  banisters  of  which  gave  way,  and  the  children 
fell  one  upon  another,  upon  the  stone  floor  below.  Forty-three 
were  killed  by  the  catastrophe. 

The  steamer  John  Adams  struck  a  snag  on  the  Ohio,  on  the 
27th  of  January,  and  sunk  immediately,  causing  a  loss  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  lives,  mostly  emigrants.  Upwards 
of  ninety  persons  lost  their  lives  by  a  boiler  explosion  on  the 
steamer  Brilliant,  on  the  Mississippi,  near  Bayou  Goula.  About 
sixty  persons  were  killed,  scalded,  or  mutilated,  by  a  boiler  ex 
plosion  on  the  steamboat  Oregon,  near  Island  No.  82,  on  the 
Mississippi,  on  the  2d  of  March. 

1852  At  the  presidential  election  this  year  the  candidates  of  the 
Democratic  party  wrere  Franklin  Pierce  for  President,  and 
William  R.  King  for  Vice-President,  each  of  whom  received 
two  hundred  and  fifty-four  electoral  votes,  and  were  elected. 
The  Whig  party  nominated  General  Winfield  Scott  for  Presi 
dent,  and  William  A.  Graham  for  Vice-President,  and  they  re 
ceived  forty -two  electoral  votes — those  of  four  States  only,  viz., 
Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.  The  Free- 
Soil,  or  Anti-Slavery  party,  nominated  John  P.  Hale  for  Presi 
dent,  and  George  W.  Julian  for  Vice-President.  A  portion  of 
the  abolitionists  nominated  as  candidates  William  Goodell  for 
President,  and  S.  M.  Piper  for  Vice-President.  The  slavery 
question  was  now  growing  into  an  important  issue  in  national 
politics,  and  divisions  existed  in  the  two  great  political  parties 
of  the  country  upon  that  subject.  While  Democrats  of  the 
Northern  States  were  willing  to  consider  the  question  of  the 
extension  of  slavery  as  settled,  those  of  the  South  were  divided 
into  what  were  called  "Union  men"  and  "Southern-rights 
men"— the  latter  holding  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  a  sove 
reign  State  to  secede  from  the  Union  whenever  the  rights  of 
the  State  were  violated  by  the  action  of  the  general  govern 
ment.  This  Southern-rights  section  comprised  a  large  majority 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  135 

of  the  Democratic  party  in  most  of  the  slave-holding  States. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  great  body  of  the  Whigs  at  the  South 
were  Union  men,  and  satisfied  with  the  measures  of  the  last 
Congress.  But,  in  the  Northern  States  general!}7,  the  largest 
portion  of  the  Whig  party  were  dissatisfied  with  some  of  the 
compromise  measures  of  Congress,  although  acquiescing  in  the 
same,  and  had  on  all  suitable  occasions,  through  their  repre 
sentatives  in  Congress  and  otherwise,  opposed  the  extension  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States.  The  abolitionists, 
so  called,  were  a  distinct  organization  on  the  subject  of  anti- 
slavery,  and  composed  of  persons  drawn  from  both  the  Demo 
cratic  and  Whig  parties. 

The  number  of  the  emigrants  to  Oregon,  this  year,  was  esti 
mated  at  ten  thousand. 

The  East  River  between  New  York  and  Brooklyn  was  frozen 
over  on  the  20th  of  January,  and  a  stream  of  travellers  crossed 
from  one  city  to  the  other  for  a  few  hours  in  the  forenoon. 

Williamsburg,  L.  I.,  organized  under  a  city  charter,  on  the 
1st  of  January.  A  ferry  was  established  between  Greenpoint 
and  New  York.  Manchester,  N.  H.,  was  first  lighted  with  gas 
in  September,  and  Easton,  Pa.,  in  November. 

A  system  of  telegraphic  fire-alarms  was  devised  in  Boston, 
and  adopted  in  that^city. 

The  manufacture  of  galvanized  iron  was  first  commenced  in 
this  country  at  Philadelphia,  this  year. 

The  first  working  model  of  Wellman's  self  top-card  stripper 
was  exhibited,  and  in  the  next  year  patented.  It  is  stated  that 
the  average  cost  of  stripping  by  hand  was  three  hundred  dollars 
per  annum,  all  of  which  was  saved  by  this  invention,  which 
also  saved  from  one  eighth  to  one  quarter  of  a  cent  per  pound 
on  the  raw  cotton. 

The  lens  system  of  illuminating  the  lighthouses  on  the  Ameri 
can  coast  was  commenced,  and  it  soon  superseded  the  reflectors 
which  had  been  used  exclusively  since  their  introduction  in 
1812. 

Signora  Alboni,  considered  the  most  distinguished  contralto 
singer  of  this  century,  arrived  in  the  United  States  in  June,  and 
for  upwards  of  a  year  sang  in  operas,  concerts,  and  oratorios  in 
the  principal  cities  with  great  success. 

The  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  from  Monroe,  Michigan,  to 
Chicago,  was  completed  and  opened  for  travel  on  the  20th  of 
February.  This  was  the  first  road  from  the  East  that  entered 
that  city.  The  Michigan  Central  followed,  and  was  opened 
the  whole  distance  between  Detroit  and  Chicago  on  the  21st  of 
May.  The  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  was  opened  for 
travel  between  Chicago  and  Joliet,  a  distance  of  forty  miles,  on 
the  18th  of  October. 

About  three  fourths  of  the  city  of  Sacramento  were  destroyed 
by  fire  on  the  2d  of  November.  About  forty  blocks  were 
burned  over,  consuming  about  twenty-five  hundred  buildings, 
and  depriving  of  shelter  nearly  one  half  the  inhabitants  of  the 


136  HISTOEY    OP  THE   UNITED   STATES. 

city.    Several  lives  were  lost,  and  the  value  of  the  property 
destroyed  was  estimated  at  over  five  millions  of  dollars. 

An  unusual  number  of  accidents  occurred  on  the  western 
waters  this  year.  On  the  3d  of  April,  the  steamboat  Glencoe, 
from  New  Orleans,  arrived  at  St.  Louis,  and  had  just  been 
moored  at  the  levee  when  three  of  her  boilers  burst,  causing  the 
death  of  more  than  eighty  persons.  The  houses  for  several  squares 
around  appeared  to  reel  under  the  force  of  the  concussion.  On 
the  2d  of  the  same  month,  more  than  twenty  persons  were 
killed  on  the  steamboat  Bedstone,  by  the  explosion  of  its 
boilers,  while  on  the  Ohio  River,  near  Carollton.  On  the  9th 
of  April,  the  steamer  Saluda,  bound  for  Council  Bluffs,  burst 
her  boilers  near  Lexington,  Mo.,  killing  nearly  one  hundred 
persons,  most  of  whom  were  women  on  their  way  to  the  Great 
Salt  Lake.  On  the  5th  of  July,  the  steamboat  St.  James  ex 
ploded  her  boilers  on  Lake  Ponchartrain,  near  New  Orleans, 
while  carrying  a  large  number  of  passengers  returning  from 
the  celebration  of  the  previous  day.  More  than  forty  lives 
were  lost  by  this  disaster.  A  flue  of  the  steamboat  Franklin 
collapsed  when  near  St.  Genevieve,  on  the  Mississippi,  on  the 
22d  of  August,  causing  the  loss  of  thirty-two  persons.  A 
catastrophe  occurred  on  Lake  Erie,  before  daylight,  on  the 
morning  of  the  20th  of  August,  from  a  collision  which  oc 
curred  between  the  steam-propeller  Ogdensburg  and  the 
steamer  Atlantic.  More  than  one  hundred  lives  were  lost  by 
this  disaster,  the  greater  portion  of  them  being  Norwegian  emi 
grants,  who  were  unable  through  their  ignorance  of  the  English 
language  to  avail  themselves  of  the  means  of  safety  suggested. 

The  burning  of  the  steamboat  Henry  Clay,  which  occurred  on 
the  Hudson  River  on  the  27th  of  July,  probably  caused  greater 
excitement  throughout  the  community  than  any  other  disaster 
of  the  year,  partly  because  of  the  criminal  recklessness  dis 
played  by  the  officers  of  the  boat.  The  steamer  left  Albany  in 
the  morning  with  a  large  number  of  passengers  for  New  York. 
During  the  greater  part  of  her  way  down  she  ran  a  race  with 
a  rival  boat,  carrying  an  extraordinaiy  head  of  steam,  and  be 
coming  so  intensely  heated  by  the  large  fires  kept  up  that  it  be 
came  difficult  to  pass  from  one  end  of  the  steamer  to  the  other. 
The  passengers  remonstrated  with  the  officers,  but  without 
effect.  In  the  afternoon,  when  opposite  Yonkers,  the  boat  took 
fire,  was  run  ashore,  and  it  burned  to  the  water's  edge.  Over 
seventy  lives  were  lost  by  drowning  and  the  flames.  Another 
accident  occurred  on  the  Hudson  River  about  forty  miles  below 
Albany,  on  the  4th  of  September.  The  connection  pipes  of  the 
steamer  Reindeer  burst,  killing  twenty- seven  persons  and  seri 
ously  injuring  fifty  more. 

1853  Franklin  Pierce  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States  on  the  4th  of  March,  and  William  R.  King  took  the  oath 
of  office  as  Vice-President. 

Congress  passed  an  act  erecting  a  new  territory  out  of  the 
northern  part  of  Oregon,  with  the  name  of  Washington  Terri 
tory. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  137 

A  treaty  was  concluded  between  the  United  States  and  Mexi 
co,  by  which  a  purchase  was  concluded  by  the  former  govern 
ment  of  that  part  of  New  Mexico  called  Arizona. 

Congress,  in  March,  passed  an  act  appropriating  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  neces 
sary  surveys  and  explorations  of  different  routes  to  determine 
the  most  practicable  line  for  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific.  In  ac 
cordance  with  the  act,  four  different  parties  were  organized 
and  sent  out  to  make  surveys  of  as  many  different  routes. 
These  parties  were  fitted  out  in  the  most  complete  manner,  with 
a  view  to  collect  all  possible  information  relative  to  the  physical 
characteristics  of  the  region  traversed,  including  its  topography, 
its  elevation  above  the  sea,  its  climate,  its  geology,  its  botany, 
and  its  natural  history,  as  well  as  all  details  bearing  upon 
the  actual  construction  of  the  road.  In  the  next  year  Congress 
made  additional  appropriations,  and  three  more  exploring  par 
ties  were  organized  for  the  same  purposes. 

An  expedition,  consisting  of  four  vessels  and  a  supply-ship, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Ringgold,  sailed  from  Norfolk, 
Va.,  in  June,  to  make  a  thorough  exploration  of  proper  routes 
to  be  pursued  by  our  vessels  between  San  Francisco  and  China, 
and  of  the  whaling-grounds  of  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  and  Behring's 
Straits. 

An  expedition,  fitted  out  at  the  joint  expense  of  the  govern 
ment  and  Mr.  Henry  Grinnell  of  New  York,  to  continue  the 
search  for  Sir  John  Franklin  in  the  Arctic  regions,  sailed  from 
that  city  on  the  31st  of  May.  It  consisted  of  a  single  vessel, 
named  the  Advance,  with  a  company  of  seventeen  persons,  un 
der  the  command  of  Dr.  Kane,  and  with  provisions  sufficient 
for  two  years,  independent  of  what  might  be  gained  by  hunt 
ing. 

The  New  York  Crystal  Palace,  erected  by  private  enter 
prise  for  a  universal  industrial  exhibition,  on  Reservoir  Square, 
at  Sixth  Avenue  and  Forty-second  Street,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  was  formally  opened  on  the  14th  of  July.  The  occasion 
was  marked  by  the  presence  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  some  of  his  Cabinet  officers. 

The  yellow-fever  devastated  New  Orleans  during  the  sum 
mer  months,  and  large  contributions  of  money  were  raised  in 
many  of  the  Northern  cities  in  aid  of  those  rendered  destitute  by 
the  scourge  in  that  city.  The  mortality  at  times  exceeded  two 
hundred  and  fifty  a  day,  and  the  total  number  of  deaths  from 
the  disease  was  about  seventy-two  hundred.  The  disease  also 
raged  in  other  Southern  cities.  One  sixth  of  the  total  popula 
tion  of  Vicksburg  died  of  it,  and  about  twelve  hundred  in  Mo 
bile. 

The  Middlesex  Canal,  in  Massachusetts,  was  abandoned,  and 
its  banks  were  soon  afterward  levelled,  and  parts  of  the  channel 
filled  up.  The  introduction  of  railroads  ruined  its  business, 

Madame  Sontag,  one  of  the  most  renowned  singers  of  Europe, 
made  her  first  appearance  on  the  stage  in  America  at  Niblo's 
Garden,  in  New  York,  on  the  10th  of  January.  She  afterwards 


138  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

sang  in  the  principal  cities  of  this  country,  and  then  went  to 
Mexico.  Upon  her  return  trip  from  that  country  she  was  at 
tacked  with  cholera,  and  died  at  Vera  Cruz  in  the  next  year. 

The  celebrated  Irish  exile,  John  Mitchel,  made  his  escape 
from  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and  reached  New  York,  by  way  of 
San  Francisco,  on  the  29th  of  November.  He  attended  a  pub 
lic  banquet  on  the  8th  of  December,  given  in  his  honor  by  the 
authorities  of  Brooklyn,  and  on  the  19th  was  complimented  by 
another  from  citizens  of  New  York. 

The  zinc-works  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  went  into  operation  on 
the  12th  of  October. 

The  first  locomotive  constructed  in  Chicago  was  built  this 
year.  A  company  was  also  formed  at  that  city  for  making 
cars. 

The  first  successful  steam  fire-engine  constructed  in  this  coun 
try  was  completed  early  in  the  year  at  Cincinnati.  A  paid  fire- 
company  was  organized  in  that  city,  and  it  was  the  first  one  es 
tablished  in  this  or  any  other  country. 

The  New  York  Clearing  House,  an  association  of  fifty -two 
banks  of  the  city  of  New  York,  went  into  operation  on  the  llth 
of  October. 

The  Galena  and  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  from  Chicago  to 
Freeport,  111.,  was  completed  its  whole  length,  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-one  miles,  and  opened  for  travel  on  the 
4th  of  September.  This  road  was  subsequently  absorbed  in  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad  system.  The  entire  line 
of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  and  that  of  the  Boston, 
Concord  and  Montreal,  and  of  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence, 
connecting  Portland  with  Montreal,  were  completed  this  year. 
The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  made  its  eastern  terminus  at 
Jersey  City  in  November,  instead  of  Piermont.  The  Albany 
and  Schenectady,  the  Utica  and  Schenectady,  the  Syracuse  ancl 
Utica,  tb.e  Auburn  and  Syracuse,  the  Auburn  and  Rochester, 
the  Tonawanda,  and  the  Attica  and  Buffalo  railroads,  were  all 
consolidated  into  one  corporation,  called  The  New  York  Cen 
tral  Railroad  Company. 

The  first  telegraph-line  in  California  was  completed  on  the 
22d  of  September.  It  extended  from  San  Francisco,  eight 
miles,  to  a  point  nearer  the  sea,  and  was  built  to  give  early  in 
formation  of  shipping  arrivals.  A  telegraph-line  between  San 
Francisco  and  Marysville,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  six 
miles,  went  into  operation  on  the  24th  of  October. 

The  Brooklyn  City  Railroad  Company,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
was  incorporated  on  the  17th  of  December.  Cars  commenced 
running  for  the  first  time  on  the  3d  of  July  of  the  next  year. 

A  fire  occurred  on  the  10th  of  December,  in  the  building 
occupied  by  Harper  Brothers,  in  New  York,  and  destroyed 
property  valued  at  over  one  million  of  dollars.  All  their  build 
ings,  the  machinery,  and  stereotype  plates,  excepting  those 
stored  in  vaults  under  the  sidewalks,  were  ruined. 

A  collision  took  place  between  two  trains  at  the  crossing  of 
the  Michigan  Central  'and  Northern  Indiana  railroads,  near 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UXITED    STATES.  139 

Chicago,  on  the  23d  of  April,  by  which  about  twenty  persons 
were  killed  outright  and  a  large  number  injured.  A  sad  disas 
ter  occurred  on  the  New  York  and  New  Haven  Railroad  on  the 
6th  of  May.  A  drawbridge  of  sixty  feet  in  width,  across  the 
Norwalk  River,  was  opened  to  admit  the  passage  of  a  vessel. 
A  train  advancing  at  unusual  speed,  in  broad  daylight,  rushed 
into  the  opening  and  was  plunged  into  the  water.  Over  fifty 
persons  were  killed,  many  of  whom  were  physicians  returning 
from  a  convention  held  at  New  York. 

Public  attention  was  engrossed  at  that  time  upon  receiving 
intelligence  of  the  loss  of  the  steamship  San  Francisco,  which 
was  wrecked  off  the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  in  the  latter  part 
of  December.  The  vessel  was  new,  and  was  on  her  first  voy 
age  at  the  time  of  the  disaster.  She  sailed  from  New  York  on 
the  22d  of  December,  with  seven  hundred  persons  on  board, 
nearly  five  hundred  and  fifty  of  whom  were  United  States  troops 
bound  for  California.  On  her  third  day  out  the  ship  encoun 
tered  a  violent  gale,  and  it  soon  became  so  fierce  and  the  sea  so 
heavy  that  the  starboard  paddle-box  was  stripped,  her  smoke 
stacks  carried  away,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
troops  and  officers  were  washed  overboard.  The  ship  became 
utterly  unmanageable,  and  drifted  from  day  to  day,  until  she 
came  near  the  latitude  of  Boston,  where  the  survivors  were  res 
cued  by  passing  vessels.  Nearly  two  hundred  lives  were  lost 
by  the  disaster.  The  steamer  Independence  was  lost  on  the 
island  of  Margitu,  off  the  coast  of  Lower  California,  on  the  16th 
of  February.  She  struck  on  a  hidden  rock,  and  received  so 
much  damage  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  run  her  ashore  ; 
in  doing  this  the  vessel  took  fire,  and  the  passengers  and  crew 
were  driven  overboard  into  the  surf.  One  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  persons  were  lost.  On  the  llth  of  April,  thirty-one  per 
sons  were  killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  steam-pipe  on  the  steam 
ship  Jenny  Lind,  while  the  vessel  was  on  her  passage  from 
Alviso  to  San  Francisco.  Thirty-eight  persons  lost  their  lives 
by  the  burning  of  the  steamer  Ocean  Wave,  on  Lake  Ontario, 
the  20th  of  April. 

1854  In  January,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  Congress  which  provided 
for  the  establishment  of  two  Territories,  one  to  be  called  Nebras 
ka  and  the  other  Kansas,  to  consist  of  the  vast  tract  of  country 
stretching  from  the  western  borders  of  Missouri,  Iowa,  and 
Minnesota,  to  the  Territories  on  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  Brit 
ish  possessions  on  the  north  to  the  thirty-seventh  parallel  of 
north  latitude  on  the  south— almost  twice  as  large  in  area  as  the 
thirteen  original  States.  By  the  bill,  it  was  provided  that  the 
people  in  those  new  Territories  were  left  free  to  decide  the  ques 
tion  for  themselves,  whether  they  would  allow  or  prohibit  sla 
very  within  their  domain ;  by  which  provision,  if  passed,  the 
Compromise  Act  of  1820-21,  which  provided  that  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  should  be  allowed  in  Missouri  and  be  prohibited 
in  all  territory  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes 
north  latitude,  would  be  effectually  repealed.  The  bill  was 
finally  passed  after  a  protracted  and  violent  debate  of  about  four 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

months,  during  which  period  the  slavery  question  was  aroused 
in  all  its  strength  and  vigor  in  Congress  and  the  country  at 
large.  The  whole  North  became  violently  excited ;  public 
meetings  were  held  by  men  of  all  parties,  and  petitions  and  re 
monstrances  against  the  measure  were  poured  into  Congress 
while  the  debate  on  the  subject  was  progressing.  One  of  these 
petitions  was  signed  by  three  thousand  clergymen  of  New  Eng 
land.  As  soon  as  the  bill  became  a  law,  there  commenced  a 
desperate  struggle  between  the  pro-slavery  and  anti-slavery  peo- 

Ele  of  the  country  for  an  immediate  and  complete  supremacy 
i  Kansas,  the  most  southerly  of  the  two  territories,  which  lay 
directly  west  of  Missouri,  and  for  future  domain  in  all  the  States 
that  might  be  formed  from  it.  To  this  end,  emigration  to  Kan 
sas  from  the  free  States  was  at  once  urged  by  the  opponents  of 
slavery,  and  on  the  24th  of  July,  an  emigrant-aid  society  was 
formed  in  Boston.  This  movement  excited  the  friends  of  sla 
very  to  vigorous  action,  and  in  Missouri  combinations  were  at 
once  formed  to  counteract  it.  Very  soon  great  numbers  com 
menced  flowing  into  Kansas  from  the  free  States,  and  by  Octo 
ber  several  towns  were  founded  by  them.  The  Missourians 
also  went  into  the  Territory  and  founded  towns  on  the  Missouri 
River.  In  October,  Alexander  H.  Reeder,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  governor  by  the  President,  arrived  in  Kansas.  During 
the  rest  of  the  year  much  ill-feeling  was  engendered  by  disputes, 
boasts,  and  threats  between  the  opposing  parties  hi  the  Terri 
tory. 

An  event  occurred  at  a  region  of  Nicaragua,  on  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  known  as  the  Mosquito  coast,  which  came  near  menacing 
the  friendly  relations  existing  between  the  British  Government 
and  the  United  States.  The  chief  town  on  the  coast  was  San. 
Juan  or  Greytown.  In  the  spring  property  belonging  to  Ameri 
can  citizens  in  the  vicinity,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  stolen  and 
conveyed  within  the  town.  A  demand  was  made  on  the  au 
thorities  for  its  restoration ;  it  was  refused,  and  the  United  States 
frigate  Cyane  having  been  sent  there,  bombarded,  the  town  on 
the  13th  of  July.  The  commander  of  the  British  ship  Bermuda, 
lying  there,  protested  against  the  bombardment,  and  claimed  that 
the  place  was  under  British  protection.  The  act  was  denounced 
by  the  English  press  as  an  insult  to  Great  Britain,  but  the  gov 
ernment  did  not  consider  the  question  of  sufficient  gravity  to 
justify  a  disturbance  of  the  friendly  feelings  of  the  two  nations. 

Congress  passed  an  act  granting  to  a  private  company  the 
right  to  establish  telegraphic  communication  between  the  Mis 
sissippi  River  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  with  a  grant  of  a  right 
of  way  two  hundred  feet  in  width. 

In  May,  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  Boston  were  greatly 
agitated  at  the  rendition  in  that  city  of  a  fugitive-slave  named 
Anthony  Burns,  who  was  conducted  to  the  ship  that  was  to 
carry  him  back  into  slavery,  under  the  guard  of  a  large  police 
and  military  force  to  prevent  his  rescue.  Public  meetings  were 
held  by  the  indignant  inhabitants,  and  many  of  them  draped 
their  houses  and  stores  in  mourning. 


HISTORY    OP   THE    UNITED    STATES.  141 

A  copv  of  a  treaty  with  Japan  arrived  at  Washington  by  the 
way  of  Honolulu,  San  Francisco,  and  Panama,  on  the  12th  of 
July,  and  was  promptly  ratified  by  the  Senate.  A  certified 
copy  of  the  ratified  instrument  was  at  once  despatched  to  Japan 
by  special  messenger.  The  treaty  was  secured  by  Commodore 
Perry,  who  had  been  instructed  by  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  to  proceed  to  Japan  with  a  large  squadron  which  would 
command  the  respect  of  that  empire,  and  he  was  invested  with 
extraordinary  rxwers,  diplomatic  as  well  as  naval,  to  procure  it. 
By  its  terms  admission  to  Japan  was  allowed  American  citizens 
for  purposes  of  trade,  and  depots  of  coal  were  permitted  to  be 
established  there  for  our  steamers  crossing  the  Pacific.  Com 
modore  Perry  took  his  departure  from  Norfolk,  Va.,  on  this 
expedition  the  24th  of  November,  1852,  in  the  United  States 
steamer  Mississippi,  and  was  followed  soon  afterward  by  other 
ships,  and  their  number  was  augmented  by  more  vessels  sta 
tioned  in  Asiatic  waters  which  joined  the  squadron  on  its  arri 
val  there. 

The  cholera  visited  Chicago  and  caused  the  death  of  over 
nine  hundred  of  the  inhabitants,  in  the  month  of  July.  There 
were  six  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  inhabitants  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  who  died  of  that  disease  during  the  summer. 

Much  excitement  prevailed  in  San  Francisco  upon  the  dis 
covery  of  forgeries  of  the  city  comptroller's  warrants  of  more 
than  one  million  of  dollars  which  had  been  committed  by  Henry 
Meigs,  who  had  absconded  the  country. 

In  February  the  water-works  constructed  by  the  city  of 
Chicago  were  completed,  and  consisted  of  a  timber  crib  built 
out  into  the  lake  six  hundred  feet  from  the  shore,  through 
which  the  water  ran  into  a  well,  whence  it  was  pumped  up  to 
the  top  of  a  cast-iron  column  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  high, 
and  thence  conducted  to  reservoirs,  capable  of  holding  a  night's 
supply,  established  in  each  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  city. 
Water  was  also  supplied  this  year  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jersey 
City,  and  of  Nashua,  N.  H.  ' 

Sacramento  was  made  the  capital  of  California  by  an  act  of 
the  State  Legislature. 

The  first  spelter  made  from  Lehigh  ores  was  produced  this 
year  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.  - 

Guilia  Grisi  and  Signer  Mario  commenced  a  season  of  oper 
atic  performances  at  Castle  Garden,  in  New  York,  on  the  4th 
of  September.  On  the  2d  of  October,  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Music  on  Fourteenth  Street  was  first  opened  to  the  public, 
on  which  occasion  Grisi  and  Mario  appeared  there  in  the  opera 
of  Norma. 

The  Great  Western  Railroad  of  Canada  was  completed  and 
opened  for  travel  on  the  17th  of  January,  affording  communica 
tion  between  Detroit  and  Niagara  Falls.  In  February  the 
Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  was  completed  from  Chicago 
to  the  Mississippi,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  eighy-two 
miles.  The  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  extending  from  Cairo,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River,  to  Dunleith,  in  the  extreme  north- 


142  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

western  corner  of  the  State,  and  from  Centralia,  one  hundred 
and  twelve  miles  above  Cairo,  to  Chicago,  a  total  length  of  road 
of  seven  hundred  and  four  miles,  was  also  completed.  The  con 
struction  of  this  road  was  undertaken  prior  to  the  financial 
crisis  of  1837,  and  about  three  and  one  half  millions  of  dollars 
spent  on  it ;  but  then  bankruptcy  prostrated  the  State,  and  work 
on  the  road  was  stopped.  The  road  remained  in  that  condition 
until  the  year  1851,  when,  with  the  aid  of  a  valuable  land- 
grant,  it  was  pushed  on  to  completion. 

The  initial  steps  i  i  transatlantic  telegraphic  communica 
tion  were  made  this  year.  Mr.  Cyrus  "W.  Field,  of  New  York, 
having  been  applied  to  for  aid  to  complete  a  telegraphic  lino 
between  St.  John's  and  Cape  Ray,  across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law 
rence,  which  had  been  commenced,  while  investigating  the  sub 
ject  considered  the  practicability  of  establishing  telegraphic 
communication  between  Europe  and  America  by  a  submarine 
cable  stretching  from  Newfoundland  to  Ireland.  Believing  in 
the  success  of  the  project,  he  obtained  in  the  early  part  of  this 
year  a  charter  from  the  Legislature  of  Newfoundland,  granting 
an  exclusive  right  for  fifty  years  to  establish  a  telegraph  from  the 
continent  of  America  to  Newfoundland,  and  thence  to  Europe. 
He  now  looked  about  him  for  coadjutors  in  the  work.  The  first 
interested  was  Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  the  next  Mr.  Moses  Taylor, 
and  then  Mr.  Marshall  O.  Roberts  and  Chandler  White,  all 
wealthy  capitalists  of  New  York.  On  the  8th  of  May,  these 
five  gentlemen  met  and  organized  a  company  under  the  name  of 
the  "New  York,  Newfoundland,  and  London  Telegraph  Com 
pany,"  and  subscribed  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  with 
which  to  begin  the  undertaking.  Mr.  Field  thenceforth  devoted 
himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  execution  of  this  project. 

The  steamer  Arctic,  during  her  return  voyage  from  Liverpool, 
was  struck  by  the  Yesta,  an  iron  propeller,  on  the  27th  of  Sep 
tember,  about  sixty -five  miles  from  Cape  Race,  a  few  feet  for 
ward  of  her  paddle-boxes,  and  was  so  seriously  injured  that  in 
about  three  hours  she  filled  with  water  and  went  down  stern  fore 
most,  engulfing  in  her  ruin  all  her  passengers  but  about  twenty- 
five  and  some  of  her  crew.  She  was  running  through  a  dense  fog 
at  the  time,  and  when  the  collision  first  occurred  the  shock  was 
so  slight  that  any  serious  injury  to  her  hull  was  not  appre 
hended.  Of  the  more  than  four  hundred  persons  who  left 
Liverpool,  many  of  wrhom  were  returning  from  a  European 
tour  of  pleasure,  less  than  fifty  were  saved. 

A  terrific  tornado  struck  Louisville  on  the  27th  of  August, 
causing  great  damage.  A  church  was  demolished  while  the 
congregation  were  at  worship,  and  twenty-five  persons  were 
killed  and  sixty-seven  injured,  many  seriously. 

There  were  throughout  the  country  this  year,  one  hundred 
and  ninety-three  railroad  accidents,  killing  one  hundred  and 
eighty- six  persons  and  wounding  five  hundred  and  eighty -nine; 
there  were  forty-eight  steamboat  accidents,  in  which  five  hun 
dred  and  eighty-seven  persons  were  killed,  and  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  wounded.  There  were  also  one  hundred  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  143 

seventy  lives  lost  by  means  of  eighty-three  fires,  and  the  total 
loss  of  property  by  fire  was  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars. 
1855  Confusion  and  anarchy  still  prevailed  in  Kansas.  Early  in 
the  autumn,  and  while  the  exasperation  of  both  parties  in  that 
Territory  was  at  its  height,  the  Free-State  men  held  a  convention, 
and  nominated  Governor  Reeder,  who  had  been  removed  from 
office  in  July,  as  a  delegate  to  Congress,  in  place  of  General 
Whitefield,  who,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  chosen  at  a  previous 
election,  not  by  the  votes  of  actual  settlers,  but  by  those  of 
people  from  Missouri.  Reeder  was  elected  in  October,  and 
when  in  February  following  Whitfield  was  admitted  provision 
ally  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  contested  it 
with  him.  In  the  mean  while  violence  reigned  in  Kansas.  On 
the  1st  of  December,  Governor  Shannon  telegraphed  the  Presi 
dent  for  United  States  forces  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  terri 
tory  ;  stating  that  an  armed  force  of  one  thousand  insurgents 
was  at  Leavenworth  ;  that  a  prisoner  had  been  rescued  from 
the  sheriff,  houses  burned,  and  the  lives  of  citizens  were  threat 
ened. 

About  this  time  public  attention  was  largely  directed  to  an 
emigrating  expedition  to  a  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  Mos 
quito  coast.  Two  British  subjects  claimed  to  have  obtained  a 
grant  of  that  territory  from  the  king  of  the  Mosquito  Indians,  and 
tinder  that  grant  Colonel  H.  L.  Kinney  fitted  out  an  expedi 
tion  to  settle  upon  and  improve  the  lands.  As  the  Government 
of  Nicaragua  claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  Mosquito 
country,  it  protested  against  this  emigration  scheme  as  a  viola 
tion  of  the  neutrality  laws  of  the  United  States.  The  President 
of  the  United  States  being  convinced  that  this  movement  in 
volved  more  than  emigration  for  settlements,  caused  the  arrest  in 
June  of  Colonel  Kinney  on  a  charge  of  violating  the  neutrality 
laws.  He  was  admitted  to  bail,  and  proceeding  secretly  to  Nicara 
gua  with  a  few  followers,  he  soon  after  published  a  card,  calling 
upon  those  who  had  enlisted  to  join  him  as  soon  as  possible,  by 
whatever  conveyance  they  might  obtain.  In  the  mean  while 
the  Government  of  Nicaragua  had  issued  a  decree  prohibiting 
Kinney  and  his  companions  from  entering  the  territory,  and 
directing  them  to  be  immediately  seized  and  conducted  to  the 
seat  of  government.  Another  phase  of  the  emigration  scheme 
was  now  developed.  Colonel  William  Walker,  who  with  a 
few  followers  had  invaded  Sonora  from  California  the  year 
before,  was  invited  by  Kinney  to  join  him  in  improving  his 
grant  on  Lake  Nicaragua.  Walker  left  San  Francisco  in 
August,  with  three  hundred  armed  men,  ostensibly  to  join 
Kinney,  but  really  to  invade  Nicaragua.  Taking  advantage  of 
revolutionary  movements  in  that  distracted  State,  he  was  suc 
cessful,  and  in  October  marched  upon  and  captured  Granada, 
its  capital.  He  established  a  Nicaraguan  as  President,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  strengthen  his  government,  which  was  recognized  by 
the  British  consul,  and  favorably  regarded  by  the  resident  min 
ister  of  the  United  States.  The  new  government  asserted  its 
claim  to  the  Mosquito  territory,  and  Colonel  Kinney,  who  had 


144  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

been  elected  its  governor  by  the  white  inhabitants,  was  arrested 
on  a  charge  of  treasonable  practices,  and  ordered  to  leave  the 
country. 

The  settlers  in  Oregon  and  Washington  Territory  were  much 
disturbed  by  depredations  of  the  Indians,  and  many  of  the  in 
habitants  were  murdered.  Major  Haller,  while  on  an  explor 
ing  expedition,  was,  with  his  company,  surrounded  by  a  body  of 
Indians,  in  Y akima  County,  Oregon,  and  kept  without  food  or 
water  for  several  days.  Reinforcements  were  sent  to  his  aid, 
but  before  they  reached  him,  as  his  position  was  becoming  des 
perate,  his  troops  fought  for  fifty  hours  against  an  overwhelm 
ing  force  of  savages.  They  then  charged  through  the  horde, 
sustaining  a  loss  of  one  fifth  of  the  company,  and  all  the 
animals,  provisions,  and  camp  equipage  belonging  to  the  expe 
dition.  A  general  uprising  of  the  Indians  now  took  place; 
whole  families  were  massacred,  and  the  utmost  consternation 
was  felt  in  unprotected  parts  of  the  country.  General  Wool 
was  dispatched  from  San  Francisco  to  Oregon  to  organize  a 
movement  against  the  savages. 

General  Kearney  attacked  a  camp  of  Sioux  Indians  in  Ne 
braska,  and  killed  eighty-six,  and  captured  seventy  of  them. 

An  expedition,  consisting  of  the  bark  Release,  and  the  steam 
propeller  Arctic,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Hartstein 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  set  sail  on  the  31st  of  May,  in  search 
of  Dr.  Kane  and  his  associates,  who  were  supposed  to  be  ice 
bound  in  the  Northern  seas.  On  the  llth  of  October  the  ex 
pedition  returned,  bringing  Dr.  Kane  and  the  entire  party,  with 
the  exception  of  three,  who  had  died.  Dr.  Kane  sailed  from 
New  York  on  the  31st  of  May,  1853.  On  the  12th  of  September 
his  party  were  frozen  in  on  the  coast  of  Greenland  at  the  most 
northerly  point  ever  reached.  Here  they  passed  the  winter. 
The  next  summer  was  spent  in  exploring  the  shores,  their  vessel 
remaining  all  the  while  fast  in  the  ice.  The  winter  of  1854-55, 
was  of  unexampled  severity,  and  their  stock  of  fuel  was  ex 
hausted.  In  May,  it  was  decided  to  abandon  the  vessel  and 
return  home.  They  set  out  in  open  boats,  and  reached  the 
Danish  settlements  on  the  6th  of  August,  having  performed  a 
journey  of  thirteen  hundred  miles  in  eighty-one  days.  Here 
they  were  on  the  point  of  taking  passage  for  England,  when 
they  were  fallen  in  with  by  the  expedition  sent  for  their 

The  winter  of  this  year  was  one  of  great  distress  among  the 
poor  of  New  York.  Work  was  scarce  and  laborers  were 
plenty.  Thousands  of  suffering  men  gathered  in  the  City  Hall 
Park  and  elsewhere,  and  proclaimed  their  destitution,  or  pa 
raded  the  streets  with  banners  and  mottoes  appealing  for  aid. 
Measures  for  relieving  the  needy  were  devised  both  by  private 
individuals  and  the  municipal  authorities  ;  relief  associations 
were  formed  ;  soup-kitchens  were  established,  and  a  system  of 
visitation  was  organized.  In  one  ward  of  the  city  and  in  one 
day  in  the  month  of  January,  nine  thousand  persons  were  fed 
by  public  charity. 


HISTORY:  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  145 

The  yellow-fever  ravaged  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Ports 
mouth,  Va. ,  in  the  summer.  Soon  after  its  arrival  at  Norfolk 
a  panic  seized  the  citizens,  and  as  many  took  refuge  in  flight  as 
were  able  to  do  so.  The  population  of  sixteen  thousand  was 
reduced  within  a  short  time  to  five  thousand,  and  that  of  Ports 
mouth  from  eleven  to  four  thousand.  Portsmouth  was  speedi 
ly  almost  deserted.  Whole  streets  had  only  two  or  three  fami 
lies  remaining.  Hotels  and  stores,  and  even  drug-shops,  were 
closed;  the  great  thoroughfares  were  empty;  grass  grew  up  be 
tween  the  bricks,  and  weeds  over  the  roadside.  The  entire 
duration  of  the  epidemic  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  -seven 
days,  during  which  period  the  mortality  in  the  two  cities  was 
about  four  thousand — almost  one  half  the  number  of  those  who 
had  not  fled. 

The  cholera  attacked  the  passengers  on  the  Pacific  steamer 
Uncle  Sam,  while  on  her  passage  from  San  Juan  to  San  Fran 
cisco,  in  the  early  part  of  September,  destroying  one  hundred 
and  eleven  persons,  besides  those  who  died  in  hospital  after 
their  arrival  in  port.  The  same  disease  appeared  on  the  steamer 
Sierra  Nevada  of  the  Nicaragua  line,  which  left  New  York  on 
the  5th  of  September,  and  carried  off  ninety-five  of  her  pas 
sengers. 

A  financial  revulsion  occurred  in  San  Francisco,  creating  a 
panic,  and  causing  the  failure,  among  others,  of  two  of  the 
most  eminent  of  the  banking  houses  largely  engaged  in  the 
transaction  of  business  between  San  Francisco  and  the  Atlantic 
States. 

Castle  Garden,  in  New  York,  ceased  as  a  theatre,  and  was 
transformed  into  a  depot  for  the  reception  of  emigrants.  It 
was  formerly  named  Castle  Clinton,  and  was  granted  to  the 
city  of  New  York  in  1790.  After  the  war  of  1812,  it  being  no 
longer  needed  for  military  purposes,  it  was  used  as  a  place  of 
amusement,  and  continued  as  such  until  this  period,  when  it  be 
came  too  distant  from  the  resident  part  of  the  city  from  the 
continual  removal  of  families  to  up-town  streets. 

Mdlle.  Rachel,  the  eminent  tragedienne,  made  her  first  ap 
pearance  on  the  stage  in  this  country,  on  the  3d  of  September, 
at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre,  in  New  York.  The  operatic  com 
pany,  ^  composed  in  part  of  the  popular  singers  Brignoli, 
Amodio,  Rocco,  Quinto,  and  Signorinas  Vestvali  and  Steffone, 
appeared  at  the  New  York  Academy  of  Music. 

The  banks  of  Boston  established  a  Clearing-house  Association 
similar  to  the  one  formed  in  New  York  in  1853. 

The  first  bridge  of  any  kind  erected  across  the  Mississippi 
River  was  completed  in  January,  at  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

The  suspension-bridge  across  the  Niagara  River,  two  miles 
below  the  Falls,  was  completed  in  March.  Operations  were 
commenced  in  its  construction  in  1852,  and  in  1854  the  lower 
floor  was  opened  for  travel. 

The  first  Hebrew  temple  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  con 
secrated  at  St.  Louis  on  the  7th  of  September. 

On  January  1st,  the  cities  of  Brooklyn  and  Williamsburg, 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  the  township  of  Bushwick,  were  consolidated  under  the 
name  of  Brooklyn,  with  a  population  of  two  hundred  and  five 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  first  city  directory  of  Indianapolis 
was  issued  this  year,  and  the  system  of  numbering  the  houses 
commenced. 

An  attempt  made  in  August  to  lay  the  submarine  cable 
across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles,  as 
the  initiatory  step  in  ocean-telegraph  enterprise,  resulted  in 
failure.  The  cable  was  made  in  England,  and  on  the  24th  of 
August,  one  end  of  it  was  fastened  on  the  shore  at  Cape  Ray, 
and  a  steamer  towed  the  bark  which  had  the  cable  on  board  out 
to  sea.  The  labor  of  paying  it  out  was  successfully  prosecuted 
for  over  thirty  hours,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  very  heavy 
gale  arose,  which  threatened  the  vessel  with  destruction,  broke 
two  of  the  three  copper  wires  of  which  the  cable  was  com 
posed,  and  rendered  the  situation  of  the  vessel  so  exceedingly 
hazardous  that  no  alternative  was  left  but  to  cut  the  cable  and 
abandon  the  undertaking.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and 
forty  miles  of  the  cable  were  sunk  in  the  sea. 

An  excursion  train  consisting  of  eleven  cars  left  St.  Louis  on 
the  1st  of  November,  to  celebrate  the  opening  of  the  Pacific 
Railroad  of  Missouri,  at  Jefferson  City.  While  the  train  was 
crossing  a  bridge,  about  one  hundred  miles  from  St.  Louis,  the 
structure  fell,  precipitating  the  cars  a  distance  of  thirty  feet 
into  the  wrater,  by  which  disaster  twenty  persons  were  killed 
and  forty  badly  wounded.  Twenty-one  persons  were  killed 
and  a  still  larger  number  injured  by  a  train  being  thrown  from 
the  track  on  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad,  on  the  29th  of 
August.  Thirty -five  persons  lost  their  lives  by  the  explosion 
of  the  boilers  belonging  to  the  steamboat  Lexington,  on  the 
Ohio  River,  about  ninety  miles  below  Louisville. 
1856  Violence  and  bloodshed  continued  to  prevail  in  Kansas.  On 
the  llth  of  February  the  President  issued  a  proclamation, 
stating  that  combinations  writhin  the  Territory  had  been  formed 
to  resist  the  laws,  and  that  persons  without  the  Territory  con 
templated  armed  intervention  in  its  affairs,  and  declaring  that 
the  execution  of  such  plans  from  within  would  constitute  insur 
rection,  and  from  without  invasion.  He  concluded  by  ordering 
all  such  persons  to  disperse  immediately.  The  accounts  from 
Kansas  continuing  to  be  alarming  and  very  contradictory,  the 
House  of  Representatives,  on  the  19th  of  March,  appointed  a 
committee  to  proceed  thither  to  investigate  the  whole  matter, 
and  report.  They  returned  to  Washington  in  June,  and  on  the 
1st  of  July  the  majority  of  the  committee  presented  their  re 
port,  in  which  was  stated  that  each  election  in  the  Territory  had 
been  carried  by  organized  invasions  from  the  State  of  Missouri, 
by  which  the  people  of  the  Territory  had  been  prevented  from 
exercising  the  rights  secured  to  them  by  the  organic  law;  that 
the  alleged  Territorial  legislature  was  an  illegally  constituted 
body,  and  had  no  power  to  pass  valid  laws,  and  their  enact 
ments  were  therefore  null  and  void;  that  those  laws  had 
not,  as  a  general  thing,  been  used  to  protect  persons  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  147 

property,  and  to  punish  wrong,  but  for  unlawful  purposes; 
that  the  election  of  General  Whitefield  to  a  seat  in  Congress 
was  not  held  in  pursuance  of  any  valid  law;  that  the  election 
of  the  contesting  delegate,  Mr.  Reeder,  was  also  invalid; 
that  in  the  existing  condition  of  the  Territory  a  fair  elec 
tion  could  not  be  held  without  a  new  census,  a  stringent  and 
well-guarded  election  law,  the  selection  of  impartial  judges, 
and  the  presence  of  United  States  troops  at  every  place  of  elec 
tion.  A  minority  report  of  the  committee  declared  the  state 
ments  of  the  majority  to  be  in  many  cases  untrue;  and  so,  after 
a  long  investigation,  both  political  parties  in  the  Territory  and 
throughout  the  country  were  dissatisfied  with  the  result. 

Kansas  affairs  not  only  claimed  the  direct  action  of  Congress, 
but  were  the  exciting  cause  of  warm  debates.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  an  event  occurred  which  created  a  profound  sensation 
throughout  the  Union  and  attracted  attention  and  remark 
abroad.  In  the  Senate,  on  the  20th  of  May,  Mr.  Sumner  of 
Massachusetts,  in  the  course  of  a  long  speech  on  the  subject  of 
Kansas  affairs,  commented  with  much  asperity  upon  the  course 
pursued  by  Senator  Butler  of  South  Carolina,  and  others. 
After  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  on  the  22d,  Mr.  Sumner 
remained  at  his  desk  engaged  in  writing.  While  so  engaged, 
Preston  S.  Brooks,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  a  nephew  of  Senator  Butler,  accosted  Mr.  Sumner  and  com 
menced  beating  him  with  a  heavy  cane.  Mr.  Sumner  was  so 
much  injured,  that  for  many  days  his  life  was  in  great  peril, 
and  he  was  not  able  to  attend  to  his  duties  in  the  Senate  during 
that  and  the  succeeding  session,  and  it  was  four  years  before  he 
was  pronounced  convalescent.  The  House  of  Representatives 
voted  on  a  motion  to  expel  Mr.  Brooks,  but  not  receiving  the 
requisite  two-thirds  majority,  it  failed  to  pass.  Mr.  Brooks  im 
mediately  resigned  his  seat,  but  was  soon  re-elected  by  his  con 
stituents  without  opposition. 

At  the  presidential  election  of  this  year,  the  question  of  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  Territories  already  free,  assumed  a 
form  and  dimensions  sufficient  to  overshadow  all  other  national 
topics,  and  under  its  influence  new  political  organizations  had 
grown  up.  For  more  than  a  year  previous  to  the  election,  a 
new  party,  composed  of  men  of  all  political  creeds,  united  in 
opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  had  been  gathering  force 
and  bulk,  and  assumed  great  proportions  when  the  election  oc 
curred.  This  was  named  the  Republican  party.  Another  and 
much  older  organization,  at  first  secret  in  its  operations,  and 
known  as  the  American,  or  Know-No  thing  party,  had  become 
a  great  political  power  in  the  country,  its  chief  bond  of  union 
being  opposition  to  foreign  influence  and  interference  in  our 
domestic  concerns,  and  the  domination  of  Roman  Catholicism 
in  our  political  affairs.  The  old  Democratic  party,  dating  its 
organization  at  the  election  of  President  Jackson,  in  1828,  still 
possessed  its  prestige  and  power,  but  had  become  divided  and 
weakened  by  internal  feuds  and  outside  pressure,  while  the  old 
Whig  party  was  virtually  annihilated  as  a  distinct  organization 


148  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

having  vitality.  The  candidates  of  the  Democratic  party  were 
James  Buchanan  for  President,  and  John  C.  Breckinridge  for 
Vice-President,  and  they  were  elected,  each  receiving  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-four  electoral  votes.  John  C.  Fremont  for 
President,  and  William  L.  Dayton  for  Vice-President,  received 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  electoral  votes  from  the  Republicans. 
The  American  party  nominated  Millard  Fillmore  for  President, 
and  Andrew  J.  Donelson  for  Vice-President,  and  carried  the 
electoral  vote  of  Maryland. 

Congress  made  grants  of  public  lands  in  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin,  to  aid  in  con 
structing  railroads  in  those  States.  Each  alternate  section,  six 
sections  wide,  on  each  side  of  the  roads,  were  granted,  and  the 
remaining  sections  belonging  to  the  United  States  were  not  to 
be  sold  for  less  than  double  the  usual  price,  and  before  being 
sold  to  individuals  they  should  be  offered  for  sale  at  public 
auction  at  the  enhanced  price. 

Indian  hostilities  continued  in  Oregon  and  Washington  Ter 
ritory.  On  the  25th  of  March,  about  eight  hundred  Indians 
attacked  Cascades,  in  Oregon,  and  burned  every  building  in 
the  town,  and  killed  numbers  of  the  citizens;  they  also  de 
stroyed  the  steamer  Mary.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Vancouver 
they  burned  and  laid  waste  the  whole  country.  A  fight  took 
place  in  Washington  Territory,  on  the  10th  of  March,  between 
the  volunteers  and  the  Indians,  in  which  more  than  twenty-five 
of  the  savages  were  killed. 

The  schemes  of  Walker  in  Nicaragua  continued  to  attract 
public  attention  in  this  country.  During  the  winter,  an  alli 
ance  of  the  Central  American  States  was  formed  against  Walk 
er,  and  hostilities  were  instituted,  wrhich  lasted  all  this  year  and 
until  the  following  spring,  when  he  was  compelled  to  abandon 
the  country. 

Baltimore  was  subjected  to  riot  and  lawlessness  in  the  au 
tumn.  On  the  12th  of  September  the  17th  Ward  House,  on 
Light  Street,  was  attacked  by  the  "  Rip-Rap"  and  "  Wampan- 
vag"  clubs,  and,  in  the  affray  which  ensued,  one  man  was 
killed  and  some  twenty  men  badly  wounded.  The  streets 
where  the  contest  took  place  presented  the  appearance  as  if 
oart-loads  of  bricks  had  been  strewed  about.  On  the  8th  of 
October,  a  desperate  struggle  took  place  between  the  "  Rip- 
Rap"  club  and  the  New  Market  Fire  Company,  which  was  a 
bloody  and  protracted  battle.  A  great  many  persons  were 
wounded  and  carried  from  the  ground,  and  the  drug-shops  near 
the  scene  of  action  were  filled  with  the  wounded  and  dying. 
At  the  election,  on  the  4th  of  November,  a  prolonged  and  des 
perate  fight  took  place  between  some  Democrats  and  Know- 
nothings.  Armed  and  organized  associations  belonging  to  both 
political  parties  resorted  to  fire-arms,  with  which  they  were  liber 
ally  provided.  Individual  combats  and  minor  affrays  occurred  at 
a  number  of  polls,  but  the  most  serious  took  place  in  the  vicin 
ity  of  the  Second  and  Eighth  wards,  where  eight  persons 
were  killed  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  wounded. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  149^ 

Very  serious  disturbances  took  place  in  the  month  of  May,  in 
San  Francisco.  The  immediate  occasion  was  the  murder  of 
James  King,  the  editor  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin,  by  James 
P.  Casey,  editor  of  the  Sunday  Times.  Casey,  who  had  been 
an  inmate  of  the  State  Prison  at  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  became 
somewhat  prominent  as  a  politician  on  his  arrival  in  Califor 
nia.  Mr.  King  in  his  paper  referred  to  this,  and  charged  Ca 
sey  with  having  fraudulently  procured  his  election  to  office. 
On  the  14th  of  May,  Casey  shot  Mr.  King  in  the  street ;  an  in 
tense  excitement  was  at  once  aroused,  which  resulted  in  the  or 
ganization  of  a  Vigilance  Committee.  Thousands  of  the  leading 
citizens  armed  and  enrolled  themselves  on  this  Committee.  In 
two  or  three  days  the  organization  was  complete,  when  they 
proceeded  to  the  prison  where  Casey  was  confined  and  com 
pelled  the  officers  to  surrender  him,  together  with  a  notorious 
gambler  and  murderer,  who  had  escaped  punishment  by  a  disa 
greement  of  the  jury  who  tried  him.  The  two  malefactors 
were  tried  \)j  the  Committee,  found  guilty,  and  executed  on  the 
open  street.  The  Committee  now  determined  to  deal  with  the 
desperadoes  and  bullies  who  infested  the  city,  and  had  acquired 
a  controlling  influence  in  the  elections.  Some  were  warned 
to  leave  and  others  arrested  and  confined  for  trial.  The  oppo 
nents  of  the  Committee  held  a  mass-meeting  on  the  2d  of 
June,  but  the  sentiment  of  the  community  appeared  to  be  ad 
verse  to  them.  The  Governor  of  the  State  issued  a  proclama 
tion  calling  out  the  militia  to  suppress  the  illegal  action  of  the 
Committee,  but  it  was  faintly  responded  to,  while  the  forces  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Committee  were  largely  increased.  Their 
rooms  were  converted  into  a  fortress,  and  a  regular  system  of 
vigilance  was  established.  They  finally  succeeded  in  their  ef 
forts  for  establishing  peace  and  justice  in  the  city,  and  disband 
ed  on  the  18th  of  August,  on  which  occasion  more  than  five 
thousand  of  their  adherents  marched  in  parade  in  celebration  of 
the  event. 

The  cold  weather  was  very  severe  at  New  York  early  in  Feb 
ruary,  and  on  the  10th  the  East  River  was  bridged  over  by  ice 
and  streams  of  people  crossed  over. 

The  community  was  startled  early  in  the  year  by  the  discov 
ery  of  forgeries  to  an  immense  amount,  committed  by  Charles 
B.  Huntington,  of  New  York.  The  forged  paper  was  used 
mainly  as  collateral  security  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money, 
and  was  fora  considerable  time  redeemed  before  maturity.  The 
counsel  of  the  forger,  on  the  trial,  in  his  defence  set  up  the  plea 
of  moral  insanity,  and  stated  that  the  aggregate  amount  of  the 
forgeries  was  fifteen  to  twenty  millions  of  dollars. 

The  railroad  bridge,  fifteen  hundred  and  eighty-two  feet  in 
length,  crossing  the  Mississippi  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  was  com 
pleted  this  year. 

The  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad,  extending 
from  Chicago  to  the  Mississippi ;  The  Chicago  and  Fort 
Wayne,  from  Chicago  to  Fort  Wayne  ;  the  extension  in  Iowa 
of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  from  the  Mississippi  to  Iowa 


150  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

City  ;  the  Penobscot  and  Kennebec,  between  Bangor  and  Wa- 
tervillc— were  all  completed  this  year.  The  first  railroad  in 
California,  that  from  Sacramento  to  Folsom,  twenty-two  and  a 
half  miles  in  length,  was  opened  for  travel  on  the  22d  of  Feb 
ruary. 

The  first  street-railway  in  New  England  was  the  Cam 
bridge  Railroad,  constructed  in  the  streets  of  Boston  and  Cam 
bridge,  and  it  was  opened  for  travel  on  the  26th  of  March. 
Street-railways,  at  this  period,  were  considered  so  much  of  an 
experiment,  that  the  originators  of  this  road  experienced  great 
difficulty  in  obtaining  subscriptions  to  its  stock  and  bonds,  and 
the  contractors  themselves  were  obliged  to  take  nearly  the 
whole  amount. 

The  first  passage  of  a  vessel  to  Europe,  through  the  great 
lakes,  was  this  year  made  direct  from  Milwaukee  by  means  of 
the  Welland  Canal  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  Miss  Adelaide  Phillips  made  her  de 
but  in  opera  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  New  York,  in  the  char 
acter  of  Azucena,  in  "II  Trovatore." 

The  introduction  of  sorghum  or  Chinese  sugar-cane,  into  the 
United  States,  was  made  this  year.  The  Patent-office  Depart 
ment  at  Washington  obtained  some  seeds  from  France,  and 
Mr.  Orange  Judd  imported  one  thousand  barrels  of  the  seed 
for  distribution  among  the  patrons  of  his  newspaper. 

The  first  manufacture  of  condensed  milk,  in  this  country, 
was  commenced  in  Litchfield  County,  Conn. 

The  first  experiments  with  the  Bessemer  process  for  the  pro 
duction  of  steel,  were  made  at  the  Phillipsburg  furnace,  in  War 
ren  County,  N.  J.  The  iron  used  was  obtained  from  a  mine 
in  Sussex  County,  which  was  opened  before  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  during  it  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  government, 
the  owners  being  principally  Tories.  After  the  war  the  mine 
was  abandoned  until  the  year  1847. 

The  first  wooden  pavement  in  Chicago  was  laid  on  Wells 
Street,  of  about  eight  hundred  square  yards,  and  proved  a  suc 
cess. 

The  old  and  memorable  Charter  Oak,  at  Hartford,  was 
blown  down  early  in  the  morning  of  the  21st  of  August. 
Crowds  of  citizens  visited  the  place,  and  carried  away  memen 
toes  of  the  venerable  tree.  A  dirge  was  played  at  noon,  and 
the  bells  of  the  city  were  tolled  at  sundown. 

A  submarine  cable  from  the  mainland  to  Nantucket  was  suc 
cessfully  laid  on  the  21st  of  August. 

The  passengers  who  left  New  York,  in  April,  for  California, 
by  the  way  of  Nicaragua,  suffered  severely  in  the  passage. 
They  found  the  transit  across  the  Isthmus  closed,  but  about 
three  hundred  of  them  determined  to  push  on.  At  Granada 
they  were  detained  a  month,  during  which  time  seventy-nine 
died.  Proceeding,  at  length,  across  the  lake,  a  number  more 
perished.  The  survivors  reached  San  Juan  del  Sur,  and  em 
barked  on  board  the  steamer  for  San  Francisco.  Sickness 


HISTOEY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  151 

broke  out  among  them,  and  thirty-three  died  on  the  passage. 
Nearly  one  half  died  between  Granada  and  San  Francisco. 

Last  Island,  a  summer  resort  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  was 
struck  by  a  terrific  storm  in  August,  which  raged  three  days. 
The  island  was  entirely  submerged,  and  every  house  destroyed, 
involving  the  loss  of  about  three  hundred  persons,  who  were 
drowned. 

The  French  steamer  Le  Lyonnais,  which  left  New  York  on 
the  30th  of  October,  was  run  into  by  a  sailing-vessel  on  the 
night  of  the  2d  of  November,  and  foundered.  The  sailing- ves 
sel  was  lost  sight  of  at  once,  and  it  was  supposed  she  sunk.  The 
passengers  and  crew,  numbering  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
persons,  betook  themselves  to  the  boats  and  a  raft  which  was 
hastily  constructed.  One  of  the  boats  was  picked  up  four  days 
after  ;  it  had  contained  eighteen  persons,  but  two  of  them  froze 
to  death.  Vessels  were  at  once  despatched  for  the  missing  boats 
and  raft,  but  without  success,  and  it  was  presumed  all  their  pas 
sengers  were  lost. 

The  Atlantic  steamer  Pacific  left  Liverpool  for  New  York 
on  the  23d  of  January,  with  forty-five  passengers  and  one  hun 
dred  and  forty-one  officers  and  crew,  and  she  was  never  heard 
from.  The  American  ship  Ocean  Wave,  on  her  voyage  from 
Rotterdam  to  New  York,  came  in  collision  with  a  British  vessel 
and  sunk  in  a  few  minutes,  carrying  down  seventy-seven  per 
sons,  mostly  German  emigrants.  On  the  20th  of  February,  the 
packet -ship  John  Kutledge  was  struck  by  an  iceberg  and  went 
down.  The  passengers  and  crew  numbered  one  hundred  and 
fifty-six  persons,  who  took  to  the  boats.  One  of  these  was  picked 
up  on  the  28th,  but  of  the  thirteen  persons  who  went  on  board 
the  only  survivor  was  a  young  sailor  ;  the  others  had  died  under 
their  privations  and  sufferings.  The  other  boats  were  never 
heard  from.  There  was  a  large  number  of  railroad  and  other 
disasters  in  the  month  of  July,  by  which  one  hundred  and  sev 
enty  persons  were  killed,  and  as  many  more  seriously  injured. 
A  wharf  at  the  foot  of  Reed  Street,  Philadelphia,  gave  way  on 
the  7th,  and  more  than  a  hundred  persons  were  precipitated  into 
the  water,  between  twenty  and  thirty  of  whom  were  drowned. 
An  excursion-train,  filled  with  the  scholars  and  teachers  of  St. 
Michael's  Church,  left  Philadelphia  by  the  North  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  on  the  16th,  and  came  in  collision  with  a  regular  down 
train,  both  running  at  great  speed.  Five  cars  of  the  excursion- 
train  were  shivered  into  fragments,  and  were  set  on  fire  from 
the  engines.  Many  of  those  who  were  imprisoned  by  the  wreck 
were  burned  to  death,  and  still  a  larger  number  were  killed  out 
right  or  dreadfully  wounded  by  the  collision.  The  total  loss  of 
life  was  not  less  than  sixty.  On  the  17th,  the  Lake  Erie  steamer 
Northern  Indiana  caught  fire  while  on  her  passage  from  Buffalo 
to  Toledo,  and  in  a  few  moments  was  burned  to  the  water's  edge. 
In  attempting  to  launch  the  life-boat,  which  was  filled  with  pas 
sengers,  the  cranes  gave  way  and  all  the  occupants  were  plunged 
into  the  water.  A  large  number  of  the  passengers  who  had 
leaped  into  the  water  to  escape  the  flames  were  drowned  ;  the 


152  HISTOEY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

total  loss  of  life  was  about  forty.  The  gales  in  the  autumn  upon 
the  great  lakes  were  unusually  severe,  occasioning  great  loss  of 
life  and  destruction  of  property.  Forty-nine  vessels,  of  which 
seventeen  were  steamers,  were  wrecked,  involving  a  loss  of 
more  than  two  hundred  lives.  The  most  disastrous  of  these 
casualties  wras  that  of  the  steamer  Superior,  which  went  on 
shore  near  the  Pictured  Rocks,  on  Lake  Superior.  Out  of  fifty 
persons  on  board  only  sixteen  were  saved.  On  the  24th  of  Sep 
tember,  the  steamboat  Niagara  was  burned  on  Lake  Michigan, 
and  from  fifty  to  sixty  lives  were  lost.  The  steam  ferry-boat 
New  Jersey,  while  running  from  Philadelphia  to  Camden  on 
the  15th  of  March,  took  fire  and  became  unmanageable  ;  about 
fifty  lives  were  lost  by  the  disaster. 

1857  James  Buchanan  was  inaugurated  President  on  the  4th  of 
March,  and  Vice-President  John  C.  Breckinridge  took  the  oath 
of  office. 

Congress  passed  an  act  entitled  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Bill, 
in  aid  of  a  company  formed  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
telegraphic  communication  between  our  continent  and  Great 
Britain.  It  provided  that  the  sum  of  seventy  thousand  dollars 
per  annum  might  be  paid  to  the  company  for  the  transmission 
of  government  messages,  until  the  net  profits  reached  six  per 
cent  per  annum,  after  which  it  should  not  exceed  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  the  tariff  of  prices  to  be  fixed  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  the  British  Government.  The  bill  also  provided 
that  the*citizens  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should 
be  put  on  an  equal  footing  with  those  of  Great  Britain,  and  that 
Congress  might  at  the  expiration  of  ten  years  terminate  the  con 
tract  by  giving  one  year's  notice. 

Congress  passed  a  bill  in  February,  directing  that  Spanish 
quarters,  eighths,  and  sixteenths  of  a  dollar  should  only  be  re 
ceived  by  public  officers  at  the  rate  of  twenty,  ten,  and  five 
cents,  and  that  they  should  not  be  paid  out,  but  sent  to 
the  Mint.  The  object  was  to  drive  those  worn-out  coins  from 
circulation.  Provision  was  also  made  for  the  coinage  of  a  new 
cent,  much  smaller  than  the  one  in  use,  to  be  composed  of 
eighty  parts  of  copper  and  twelve  of  nickel. 

A  case  which  had  attracted  great  interest  throughout  the 
country  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  March.  A  slave  named  Dred  Scott,  who  was  taken  by  his 
master  from  Missouri  to  Illinois,  where  he  remained  two  years, 
and  then  taken  back  to  Missouri,  sued  for  his  freedom,  on  the 
ground  that  since  Illinois  by  its  constitution  prohibited  slavery, 
by  his  being  domiciled  in  that  State  he  became  free  ;  and  if  he 
became  free  in  that  State  he  continued  free,  since  there  was  no 
law  in  force  to  remand  him  to  slavery.  The  majority  of  the 
court  decided  that  every  person,  and  every  class  and  description 
of  persons,  who  were  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  consti 
tution  recognized  as  the  citizens  of  the  several  States,  became 
also  citizens  of  the  new  political  body,  but  none  other  ;  it  was 
formed  by  them  and  for  them  and  their  posterity,  but  for  no 
one  else  ;  the  legislation  and  histories  of  the  times,  and  the  Ian- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  153 

guage  used  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  showed  that 
neither  the  class  of  persons  who  had  been  imported  as  slaves, 
nor  their  descendants,  whether  they  became  free  or  not,  were 
then  acknowledged  as  a  part  of  the  people  nor  intended  to  be 
included  in  the  general  words  used  in  that  memorable  instru 
ment  ;  that  they  had  for  more  than  a  century  been  regarded  as 
beings  of  an  inferior  order,  and  altogether  unfit  to  associate  with 
the  white  race,  either  in  moral  or  political  relations  ;  and  so  far 
inferior,  that  they  had  no  rights  which  the  white  man  was  bound 
to  respect  ;  and  that  the  negro  might  justly  and  lawfully  be 
reduced  to  slavery  for  his  benefit.  Two  of  the  judges  dissented 
from  that  opinion. 

In  September,  an  emigrant  party  arrived  at  Mountain  Mead 
ow,  about  three  hundred  miles  south-east  of  Salt  Lake  City  in 
Utah,  and  camped  at  the  south  end  of  the  valley.  They  had 
thirty  wagons  and  several  hundred  head  of  cattle.  For  several 
days  they  were  attacked  by  whites  and  Indians,  until  a  treaty 
was  made  by  which  they  were  permitted  to  return  to  Cedar  City, 
but  were  compelled  to  give  up  their  property.  After  the  latter 
had  been  complied  with  the  treaty  was  basely  broken,  and  of 
the  emigrants,  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  women,  and 
children  were  massacred. 

Early  in  January,  the  Mormon  dignitaries  went  to  the  offices 
of  one  of  the  United  States  Judges  at  Salt  Lake  City,  seized 
all  the  books,  papers,  and  documents  belonging  to  the  court, 
and  burned  them,  upon  the  plea  that  as  Congress  would  not 
admit  Utah  into  the  Union,  they  would  not  allow  the  officers 
of  the  government  to  remain  in  the  Territory.  For  that 
circumstance,  and  for  the  reason  that  numerous  depredations 
and  outrages  had  been  committed  upon  travellers  in  Utah  said 
to  have  been  instigated  by  the  Mormons,  and  that  persons 
arrested  for  crime  could  not  be  convicted  by  Mormon  juries,  the 
President  despatched  about  six  thousand  United  States  troops 
to  Utah  to  compel  the  Mormons  to  respect  the  laws  of  the 
Government.  Upon  receiving  intelligence  of  this,  Brigham 
Young  prepared  to  resist,  and  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding 
all  bodies  of  armed  men  from  entering  the  Territory  under  any 
pretext  whatever.  Meanwhile  the  grand  jury  of  the  United 
States  Court  brought  in  bills  of  indictment  for  high-treason 
against  Brigham  Young,  and  nineteen  others  specifically  named, 
besides  a  great  number  of  persons  whose  names  were  not  known 
to  the  jury.  The  difficulties  were,  however,  settled  in  the  next 
year  without  bloodshed,  the  Mormons  consenting  to  the  de 
mands  of  the  government,  and  their  leaders  were  pardoned. 

The  first  attempt  to  lay  the  Atlantic  cable  was  made  in 
August.  Four  vessels  composed  the  expedition,  two  of  them 
the  Niagara  and  the  Agamemnon,  containing  the  cable.  It  was 
determined  to  lay  down  the  wire  in  a  continuous  line  from 
Yalentia  Bay,  in  Ireland,  to  Newfoundland,  the  Niagara  tak 
ing  the  first  half  to  the  middle  of  the  ocean,  and  the  cable  from, 
the  Agamemnon  being  joined  on,  that  vessel  to  lay  the  remain- 
•der.  Everything  being  ready,  the  ships  sailed  from  the  Irish. 


154  HISTOKY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

coast  on  the  evening  of  the  7th,  and  the  operation  of  paying 
cut  the  cable  worked  satisfactorily.  Early  in  the  morning  of 
the  10th,  the  water  began  very  suddenly  to  grow  deeper.  In 
the  course  of  eight  miles  its  depth  increased  from  five  hundred 
and  fifty  fathoms  to  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty,  and  soon 
afterward  it  reached  two  thousand  fathoms.  This  occasioned 
an  additional  strain  upon  the  cable,  causing  it  to  run  out  at  a 
greater  speed  than  that  of  the  vessel.  The  retarding  force  of 
the  brakes  was  accordingly  increased  to  prevent  the  too  rapid 
pay-out  of  the  cable,  which  still,  however,  continued  to  run  out 
much  faster  than  the  vessel  advanced.  At  this  time  there  was 
a  strong  wind  and  heavy  sea.  At  a  quarter  before  four  in  the 
morning  of  the  llth,  the  engineer  of  the  company,  who  had 
personally  superintended  the  working  of  the  machinery,  was 
obliged  to  go  to  another  part  of  the  vessel,  leaving  the  breaks  in 
charge  of  another  person.  In  a  few  moments  he  heard  the 
machine  stop,  and  when  he  returned  he  found  that  the  cable  had 
parted  at  some  distance  from  the  ship.  Of  the  cable  three  hun 
dred  ani  thirty-five  miles  had  been  paid  out,  being  fully  one 
hundred  miles  more  than  the  ship  had  run.  The  vessels  at  once 
returned. 

An  extraordinary,  violent,  and  destructive  financial  panic 
occurred  late  in  the  summer  and  autumn.  The  first  actual  shock 
was  the  failure,  on  the  24th  of  August,  of  the  Ohio  Life  and 
Trust  Company,  which  had  borrowed  largely  on -call  in  New 
York,  and  loaned  the  funds  where  they  were  not  immediately 
available.  The  liabilities  were  about  seven  millions.  The 
credit  of  this  institution  had  been  very  high,  and  its  failure  not 
only  shook  public  confidence,  but  involved  many  corporations 
and  individuals  in  serious  loss.  Several  stock  and  money  dealers 
failed  in  New  York,  and  the  daily  meetings  of  the  Board  of 
Brokers  were  characterized  by  intense  excitement.  Every  in 
dividual  misfortune  was  announced  on  the  news  bulletins  in 
large  letters,  and  attracted  curious  crowds,  which  were  con 
tinually  fed  by  the  passing  throngs.  The  N.  Y.  Clearing 
House  report  for  the  29th  of  August  showed  a  reduction  of 
four  millions  of  dollars  in  the  bank  loans  during  the  previous 
week.  The  most  substantial  securities  of  the  market  fell  rapidly 
in  price  at  public  sale.  Doubts  of  the  safety  of  bank-notes  in 
circulation  were  generally  entertained.  One  of  the  Associated 
Banks  of  New  York  fell  into  default,  at  the  end  of  August, 
and  a  fraud  of  seventy  thousand  dollars  by  the  paying  teller 
roused  suspicion  of  similar  misconduct  in  other  institutions. 
The  regular  discount  of  bills  by  the  banks  was  mostly  suspended, 
and  the  street  rates  for  money,  even  on  unquestionable  securi 
ties,  arose  to  three,  four,  and  five  per  cent  a  month  ;  on  the 
ordinary  securities  of  merchants,  such  as  promissory  notes  and 
bills  of  exchange,  money  was  not  to  be  had  at  any  rate.  House 
after  house  of  high  commercial  repute  succumbed  to  the  panic, 
and  several  heavy  banking  houses  were  soon  added  to  the  list 
of  failures.  The  statement  of  the  New  York  banks  for  the 
week  ending  September  5th  showed  a  further  reduction  in  loans 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  155 

of  more  than  four  millions  of  dollars.  Commercial  embarrass 
ments  became  the  chief  staple  of  news  in  all  the  papers  of  town 
or  country.  The  purchase  and  transportation  of  produce  almost 
entirely  ceased.  From  this  period  there  was  nothing  wanting 
to  aggravate  the  common  distress  for  money.  Toward  the 
close  of  September,  three  of  the  leading  banks  of  Philadelphia 
failed,  and  the  remainder  resolved  upon  a  temporary  suspension 
of  specie  payments.  This  was  followed  by  a  similar  step  on 
the  part  of  the  banks  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  New  Jersey.  Early  in  October  there  was  a 
decided  increase  in  the  stringency  of  the  money  market,  and  a 
consequent  accession  to  the  number  of  mercantile  failures. 
Houses  whose  assets  exceeded  their  liabilities  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  were  unable  to  meet  engagements  of  com 
paratively  small  amounts.  Domestic  exchanges  became  so  un 
settled  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  remit  funds  from  dis 
tant  points.  A  steady  demand  for  specie  set  in  upon  the  New 
York  banks,  which  was  promptly  met  until  the  morning  of  the 
18th,  when  a  universal  panic  prevailed.  By  noon,  the  run  upon 
the  banks  was  general;  Wall  Street  was  choked  by  thousands  of 
people  endeavoring  to  force  their  way  into  banking-houses 
to  demand  specie  for  notes  and  checks.  Before  the  close  of 
business  hours  eighteen  city  banks  were  forced  to  close  their 
doors,  and  announce  that  they  had  suspended  specie  payments. 
During  the  evening  a  meeting  was  held  of  representatives  from 
the  other  banks.  It  was  found  that  the  specie  in  their  vaults 
had  been  reduced  from  eleven  millions  four  hundred  and 
seventy-six  thousand  dollars  to  five  millions  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  It  was  then  unanimously  resolved  that  all 
the  banks  should  temporarily  suspend  the  payment  of  specie. 
This  was  done  with  but  one  exception.  The  example  of  sus 
pension  was  at  once  followed  throughout  the  country.  The  im 
mediate  effect  of  the  suspension"  was  that  the  notes  of  New 
York,  New  England,  and  other  solvent  banks  were  at  once 
received  and  paid  out  as  usual  in  all  business  transactions,  and  a 
feeling  of  relief  began  to  be  experienced.  The  pressure  passed 
away  in  the  course  of  the  winter.  The  liquidation  was  rapid, 
and  by  spring  business  was  again  in  motion.  The  New  York 
banks  resumed  on  the  12th  of  December,  and  others  followed 
gradually  arid  informally.  The  effect  of  the  panic  upon  busi 
ness  was  disastrous,  and  it  was  almost  annihilated.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  industries  of  the  country.  Almost  all  the 
large  manufacturing  establishments  either  suspended  opera 
tions  or  worked  upon  short  time.  In  New  York  City  alone  it 
was  estimated  that  thirty  or  forty  thousand  mechanics  and 
workmen  were  thrown  out  of  employment. 

All  the  old  books,  papers,  drafts,  checks,  and  letters  which 
had  been  preserved  in  the  United  States  Bank  in  the  long 
course  of  its  immense  business  were  sold  at  Philadelphia  to  a 
paper  manufacturer.  The  whole  mass  weighed  over  forty 
tons.  Ten  tons  of  it  consisted  of  autograph  letters  of  the  first 
statesmen,  politicians,  and  financiers  ofthis  and  other  countries. 


156  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  conductors  and  others  having  charge  of  the  freight- 
trains  on  the  first  and  second  divisions  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  stopped  work  on  the  29th  of  April,  and  re 
fused  to  do  duty.  For  several  days  of  the  following  month, 
these  men  molested  the  different  freight-trains  running  into  the 
city,  and  on  two  occasions  a  desperate  fight  ensued  between 
the  rioters  and  police  who  had  been  sent  to  guard  the  cars.  At 
last  the  Governor  of  the  State  issued  a  proclamation,  warning 
all  persons  to  keep  away  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  disturb 
ances,  and  dispatched  the  military  to  the  ground.  A  desper 
ate  fight  took  place  between  the  troops  and  the  rioters,  in  which 
many  were  killed  and  wounded  before  the  disturbances  were 
quelled. 

By  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the 
control  of  the  Police  Department  of  the  city  of  New  York  was 
transferred  from  the  municipal  authorities  to  those  of  the 
State,  and  a  police  district  was  created,  comprising  the  coun 
ties  of  New  York,  Kings,  Westchester,  and  Richmond.  Upon 
this  a  contest  arose  between  the  Mayor  of  the  city  and  the  new 
ftoard  of  Police  Commissioners  for  the  control  of  the  Police, 
the  Mayor  having  resolved  to  retain  his  power  until  he  could 
test  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  in  the  courts.  During  the 
progress  of  the  conflict  between  the  two  different  authorities 
the  Police  Department  became  disorganized,  and  mob-law  and 
crime  increased  in  the  city  to  a  fearful  extent.  On  the  evening 
of  the  3d  of  July,  a  disturbance  commenced  between  two 
gangs  of  rowdies,  which  was  continued  on  the  following  day. 
Sticks,  stones,  and  knives  were  freely  used,  and  men,  women, 
and  children  were  wounded.  A  few  policemen  were  dis 
patched  to  the  spot,  but  they  were  driven  off  with  several 
wounded,  and  the  riot  continued.  The  rioters  tore  up  paving- 
stones,  and  seized  drays,  trucks,  and  whatever  came  to  hand, 
wherewith  to  erect  barricades.  The  greatest  consternation 
prevailed  throughout  the  city ;  several  regiments  of  soldiers 
were  called  out,  but  the  disturbance  was  not  quelled  before  six 
men  had  been  killed  and  over  a  hundred  wounded.  On  the 
13th  another  outbreak  occurred,  lasting  two  days,  but  which 
was  finally  put  down  by  the  police  without  military  aid. 

From  the  23d  to  the  25th  of  January,  a  severe  term  of  cold 
weather  prevailed  throughout  New  England,  the  mercury 
ranging  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  degrees  below  zero.  Rail 
roads  were  obstructed  by  drifting  snow,  and  Boston  harbor 
was  frozen  over. 

William  Walker  was  driven  out  of  Nicaragua  and  escaped 
to  the  United  States,  where  he  determined  to  organize  another 
filibustering  expedition  against  the  former  country.  On  the 
10th  of  November,  he  was  arrested  at  New  Orleans  on  a  charge 
of  violating  the  neutrality  laws.  Being  liberated  upon  giving 
bail,  he  departed  for  Mobile  and  there  embarked  on  a  packet, 
from  which  he  was  transferred  to  a  steamer  which  had  set  out 
with  three  or  four  hundred  men,  as  previously  arranged,  for 
another  expedition  to  Nicaragua.  On  the  24th  of  November, 


HISTORY    OP   THE    UNITED    STATES.  157 

Walker  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado,  a  branch  of  the 
San  Juan,  in  Nicaragua,  where  a  detachment  of  about  fifty 
men  was  landed,  who  proceeded  up  the  river.  The  steamer 
then  proceeded  to  Greytpwn,  where  a  landing  was  quietly  ef 
fected,  although  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  Saratoga  lay 
in  the  harbor.  Intrenchments  were  thrown  up,  and  the  mili 
tary  character  of  the  expedition  became  apparent.  On  the  6th* 
of  December,  the  United  States  frigate  Wabash,  Commodore 
Paulding,  arrived.  The  American  vessels  took  up  a  position 
commanding  the  camp  of  the  filibusters,  who  were  summoned 
to  surrender.  They  complied  with  the  demand,  and  the  men 
were  shipped  on  board  to  be  brought  home.  Walker,  upon 
giving  his  word  of  honor  to  surrender  himself  on  his  arrival  at 
New  York,  was  permitted  to  return  by  the  regular  steamer 
from  Aspinwall.  He  surrendered  himself  to  the  United  States 
marshal  upon  reaching  that  city,  whence  he  was  taken  to 
Washington,  where  he  was  discharged  by  the  government. 

The  making  of  watches  by  machinery,  which  was  commenced 
in  1850,  and  subsequently  continued  with  only  partial  success, 
was  perfected  about  this  time. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  on  the  25th  of  June, 
purchased  from  the  State  for  the  sum  of  seven  millions  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  its  line  of  canals  and  railroads 
completed  in  1830,  between  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg,  a  dis 
tance  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-three  miles.  When  the  com 
pany  took  possession,  the  canals  were  in  a  dilapidated  condi 
tion,  and  the  railroads  out  of  repair.  The  canals  were  now 
soon  abandoned,  and  the  two  cities  connected  by  one  line  of 
continuous  rail. 

The  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  Railroad  was  completed  this  year; 
the  Milwaukee  and  Mississippi,  between  Milwaukee  and  Prairie 
du  Chien,  was  opened  for  travel  on  the  15th  of  April;  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston,  in  May;  direct  railroad  communica 
tion  was  established  between  Baltimore  and  St.  Louis,  early  in 
June;  and  during  the  year,  between  Detroit  and  Toledo.  The 
Parkersburg  branch  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  was 
completed  on  the  1st  of  May;  and  some  time  during  the  year  the 
Virginia  Central,  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles  in  length, 
between  Richmond  and  Jackson's  River,  was  also  finished. 

The  California  steamer  Central  America  left  Havana  on  the 
8th  of  September,  for  New  York,  having  on  board  about  six 
hundred  persons,  passengers  and  crew.  A  storm  arose  during 
the  night  of  the  9th,  which  increased  till  the  morning  of  the 
llth,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the  vessel  was  leaking  badly. 
The  pumps  were  immediately  put  in  operation,  but  the  water 
gained  rapidly,  overflowing  the  coal-bunkers,  cutting  off  the 
supply  of  the  fuel,  and  finally  putting  out  the  fires  in  ^the 
furnace.  The  passengers  and  crew  were  then  formed  into 
gangs  for  bailing;  but  in  spite  of  their  efforts  the  water  con 
tinued  to  rise.  The  steamer  was  soon  entirely  helpless,  and 
labored  violently.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  12th  a  vessel  ap 
peared  in  sight,  and  upon  a  signal  of  distress  being  given  bore 


158  HISTOEY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

towards  the  steamer.  The  vessel  undertook  to  lie  by,  and  take 
off  as  many  of  the  passengers  as  possible.  One  of  the  steamer's 
boats  had  been  swept  away  the  previous  night,  and  two  more 
were  stove  in  and  disabled  in  launching;  the  remaining  three 
were  successfully  launched.  Into  these  three,  more  than  a 
hundred  passengers  were  lowered,  including  all  the  women 
and  children,  and  safely  conveyed  on  board  the  vessel,  which 
had  now  drifted  off  two  or  three  miles.  The  bailing  was  still 
kept  up  on  board  the  steamer,  and  though  the  water  continued 
to  increase  there  was  no  general  apprehension  of  immediate 
danger,  until  nearly  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  the 
-water  swept  over  the  deck.  The  steamer  then  made  a  sudden 
plunge,  and  went  down  in  an  instant,  carrying  with  her  all  on 
board.  A  few  who  had  secured  refuge  on  fragments  of  the 
wreck  were  picked  up  by  passing  vessels,  but  the  total  number 
-of  persons  lost  was  estimated  to  exceed  four  hundred.  There 
was  also  a  large  amount  of  treasure  lost,  which,  including  that 
in  the  possession  of  passengers,  is  supposed  to  amount  to  more 
than  two  millions  of  dollars. 

1858  A  second  attempt  was  made  to  lay  the  Atlantic  cable,  in 
June.  It  was  determined  that  the  cable  should  be  transported 
to  mid  ocean,  one  half  of  it  by  the  Niagara,  the  other  by  the 
Agamemnon;  it  was  then  to  be  spliced;  the  Niagara  to  proceed 
in  paying  it  out  towards  America,  the  Agamemnon  to  pay  out 
at  the  same  time  and  return  to  the  landing-place  in  Ireland. 
The  expedition  sailed  from  Plymouth,  England,  on  the  10th 
of  June,  and  when  three  days  out  encountered  a  heavy  gale, 
which  continued  without  interruption  for  nine  days.  The 
ships  kept  together  for  seven  days  of  this  weather,  when  they 
were  compelled  to  part  company.  They  rejoined  at  the  ap 
pointed  place  in  mid- ocean,  on  the  26th.  The  cable  was  then 
spliced,  but  before  five  miles  had  been  paid  out,  it  parted  on 
board  the  Niagara.  The  ships  came  together  again,  a  new 
splice  was  made,  and  when  each  vessel  had  paid  out  about 
forty  miles,  the  electric  communication  ceased.  It  was  sup 
posed  on  each  vessel  that  the  separation  had  taken  place  on  board 
the  other.  But  when  the  rendezvous  was  reached,  it  was  found 
that  the  fracture  had  taken  place  at  some  distance  from  each 
ship,  and  apparently  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  The  vessels 
came  together,  and  the  cable  was  once  more  joined.  On  the 
evening  of  the  28th,  the  third  attempt  was  begun.  All  worked 
well  on  board  the  Niagara  until  nine  o'clock  of  the  evening  of  the 
29th.  Something  more  than  a  hundred  miles  had  been  sailed, 
and  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  cable  had  been 
given  out,  when  the  communication  suddenly  ceased,  and  it 
became  evident  that  the  cable  had  parted,  and,  as  was  inferred 
from  scientific  tests,  at  or  near  the  Agamemnon.  It  was  then 
determined  to  test  the  strength  of  the  cable.  It  was  blowing 
freshly,  and  the  immense  vessel  was  allowed  to  swing  by  the 
cable,  which  endured  the  strain  more  than  an  hour;  then  a 
heavy  sea  snapped  it,  and  the  Niagara  bore  away  for  Queens, 
town,  where  she  arrived  on  the  5th  of  July.  On  the  12th  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    TJXITED    STATES.  159 

Agamemnon  arrived  there  also.  By  its  report  of  the  breaking 
of  the  cable,  it  appeared  that  at  the  time  the  sea  was  perfectly 
calm,  the  strain  upon  the  cable,  as  indicated  by  the  dynamo 
meter,  being  about  twenty-one  hundred  pounds — only  one  third 
what  it  was  warranted  to  bear — when  all]  at  once,  without  the 
least  apparent  cause,  it  parted  close  by  the  stern  of  the  steamer. 
As  there  was  still,  notwithstanding  the  loss  of  four  hundred 
miles  of  cable,  a  considerable  surplus  over  the  quantity  sup 
posed  to  be  required,  the  Directors  determined  to  make  another 
trial.  On  the  17th  of  July,  everything  had  been  prepared,  and 
the  expedition  left  Queenstown,  on  the  third  attempt.  The 
Niagara  reached  mid-ocean  on  the  23d,  the  Agamemnon  on 
the  28th.  On  the  following  day  the  cable  was  joined,  and  the 
steamers  proceeded  towards  their  several  destinations.  The 
Niagara  reached  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland,  on  the  morning 
of  the  5th  of  August,  and  the  Agamemnon,  Valentia,  in  Ireland, 
on  the  same  day.  The  two  vessels  had  performed  their  task 
almost  within  the  same  hour  of  absolute  time,  and  the  cable 
was  successfully  laid  without  a  break.  The  distance  between 
the  two  termini  was  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety-five  geo 
graphical  miles;  of  this  the  Niagara  had  accomplished  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-two  miles,  with  an  expenditure  of  ten  hun 
dred  and  thirty  miles  of  cable  ;  and  the  Agamemnon,  eight 
hundred  and  thirteen  miles,  expending  ten  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  of  cable,  each  vessel  having  left  a  surplus  of  eighty 
miles.  Before  night,  on  the  5th  of  August,  intelligence  of  the 
successful  laying  of  the  cable  was  telegraphed  throughout  the 
country.  Signals  were  sent  over  the  cable,  but  the  telegraphic 
apparatus  not  being  arranged  for  some  days,  messages  could 
not  be  transmitted.  It  had  been  previously  determined  that 
the  first  dispatches  sent  over  the  line  should  be  a  message  from 
the  Queen  of  England  to  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  President's  reply.  The  necessary  arrangements  were 
not  completed  until  the  16th  of  August,  on  which  clay  the 
messages  were  transmitted,  as  arranged.  The  line  was  then 
for  some  time  devoted  exclusively  to  experiments  on  the  part 
of  the  electricians;  no  general  dispatches  being  sent  over  it 
until  the  25th,  when  a  message  dated  at  Valentia  on  that  day, 
was  published  in  the  New  York  papers  of  the  following  day. 
The  next  day  a  dispatch  appeared  in  the  New  York  afternoon 
papers  dated  at  London  on  the  morning  of  the  same  day.  The 
intelligence  of  the  successful  laying  of  the  cable  was  received 
everywhere  with  enthusiasm,  and  was  celebrated  by  public 
demonstrations  in  almost  every  considerable  town.  On  the  17th 
of  August  a  hundred  guns  were  fired  in  the  New  York  City 
Hall  Park,  at  daybreak,  in  honor  of  the  event,  and  the  salute 
was  repeated  at  noon.  Flags  were  raised  on  all  the  public 
buildings,  the  bells  were  rung,  and  at  night  the  city  was  bril 
liantly  illuminated.  The  1st  of  September  was  set  apart  for  a 
public  ovation,  by  the  municipal  authorities,  to  Mr.  Field  and 
the  officers  of  the  expedition.  The  celebration  surpassed  every 
thing  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  in  the  city.  But  these  rejoic- 


160  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ings  were  premature  :  the  cable  proved  a  failure  from  some 
imperfections  in  its  manufacture,  so  that  it  could  not  be  used  ; 
and  it  was  only  after  several  years  of  labor  that  the  projectors 
of  the  enterprise  finally  established  success  in  the  undertaking. 

Minnesota  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  llth  of  May. 

Gold  was  discovered  this  year,  at  Pike's  Peak,  Colorado. 
Upon  the  intelligence  of  this  discovery  being  noised  about, 
there  at  once  set  in  a  stream  of  adventurers  to  the  locality,  from 
all  sections  of  the  country.  Within  two  years,  it  is  stated, 
one  hundred  and  seventy- five  quartz-mills  were  in  operation  in 
the  Territory. 

A  project  was  set  on  foot  by  Walker  for  another  expedition 
to  Nicaragua,  and  he  advertised  in  the  newspapers  his  inten 
tions,  and  asked  the  co-operation  of  American  citizens  and  for 
emigrants  to  join  him,  designating  Mobile  as  the  place  of  ren 
dezvous  and  departure.  Thereupon  the  President  issued  a 
proclamation  denouncing  the  project,  and  enjoining  all  officers 
of  the  government,  civil  and  military,  in  their  respective  spheres, 
to  be  vigilant,  active,  and  faithful  in  suppressing  those  illegal 
enterprises.  A  portion  of  the  filibusters  who  had  assembled 
at  Mobile  applied  to  the  collector  of  the  port  for  clearance,  and 
were  refused.  On  the  6th  of  December,  they  sailed  secretly 
from  Mobile,  in  the  Susan,  a  coasting  vessel.  They  were  stopped 
by  a  revenue-cutter,  but  pretending  to  be  engaged  in  a 
coasting  voyage,  were  suffered  to  proceed.  The  vessel  was 
driven  by  adverse  winds  on  the  coast  of  Honduras  and  wrecked. 
With  much  difficulty  the  men  made  their  way  to  Belize,  where 
they  found  themselves  unable  to  procure  a  vessel  to  carry 
them  to  their  place  of  destination.  The  governor  at  length  offer 
ed  to  send  them  back  to  the  United  States  in  a  British  armed 
vessel.  He  wrould  not  inquire  into  their  original  intentions, 
but  as  they  had  violated  no  law  of  England,  would  consider 
them  simply  as  shipwrecked  Americans.  The  offer  was  ac 
cepted,  and  the  filibusters  were  landed  at  Mobile  on  the  first  of 
the  following  month. 

Mount  Vernon,  the  home  and  burial-place  of  Washington, 
was  purchased  by  the  "  Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association," 
who  designed  to  hold  it  in  perpetuity  as  a  place  of  public 
resort  and  pilgrimage. 

The  commencement  of  the  work  of  constructing  the  Central 
Park,  in  New  York,  was  made  this  year. 

The  first  overland  mail  from  California  arrived  at  St.  Louis 
on  the  9th  of  October,  having  been  conveyed  from  San  Fran 
cisco  in  twenty-three  days  and  four  hours. 

Mdlle.  Piccolomini  made  her  first  appearance  on  the  stage  in 
America,  on  the  20th  of  September,  at  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Music. 

The  first  steam  fire  engine  used  in  Baltimore  arrived  in  that 
city  on  the  18th  of  May.  In  June  the  police  and  fire-alarm 
telegraph  was  established.  In  September  a  paid  fire-depart 
ment  went  into  operation. 

In  November,  water  was  first  introduced  through  street-pipes 


HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  161 


into  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  and  on  the  17th  of  December  it  was 
first  used  in  extinguishing  a  fire. 

Staten  Island  became  the  scene  of  a  riot,  growing  out  of  the 
increased  hostility  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  establishment  of 
quarantine  on  their  shores.  The  State  authorities  had  pur 
chased  in  1798  thirty  acres  in  the  town  of  Castleton,  on  the  island, 
for  quarantine  purposes,  and  subsequently  hospitals  were 
erected  thereon  for  fever  and  small-pox  patients.  As  Staten. 
Island  became  thickly  settled,  the  removal  of  the  quarantine 
was  asked  for,  but  nothing  was  done.  In  1856  there  were 
seven  hundred  and  sixty-nine  cases  of  yellow-fever  on  Staten 
Island,  the  adjoining  shore  of  Long  Island,  and  in  South 
Brooklyn.  In  the  following  year  the  legislature  authorized  the 
removal  of  quarantine,  and  land  was  bought  at  Seguin's  Point, 
seven  miles  farther  from  New  York,  but  still  on  the  island. 
Five  days  after  the  transfer,  a  mob  burned  all  the  buildings. 
New  ones  were  put  up,  but  they  also  were  burned,  and  the  site 
was  thenceforward  abandoned,  and  the  quarantine  remained  in 
the  old  place.  The  hostility  to  the  establishment  increased  in 
strength  ;  the  Castleton  Board  of  Health  declared  it  a  nuisance, 
and  on  the  night  of  September  1st  the  place  was  attacked  by 
a  mob,  the  sick  were  carried  from  the  hospitals  and  laid  upon 
mattresses  in  the  field,  the  officers  and  physicians  were  driven 
off,  and  all  the  buildings,  save  the  woman's  hospital,  were  de 
stroyed  by  fire ;  the  next  night  the  remaining  hospital  was 
similarly  destroyed.  The  governor  declared  the  island  in  re 
bellion,  and  sent  troops  there;  but  no  further  trouble  occurred. 
Thirty-two  buildings  in  all  were  burned.  A  number  of  the 
patients  died  in  consequence  of  the  exposure  occasioned  by 
their  removal. 

Floods  in  the  rivers  of  the  west  and  southwest  were  unusually 
destructive  this  year.  The  loss  was  especially  great  upon  the 
Mississippi,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Illinois,  and  Ohio.  Early  in 
May  the  levees  about  New  Orleans  gave  way,  causing  the  over 
flow  of  an  immense  tract  of  sugar  and  cotton  country.  A  month 
later  ^  series  of  inundations  took  place  in  the  Upper  Mississippi 
and  its  northern  tributaries.  On  the  12th  of  June,  the  levee 
above  Cairo,  in  Illinois  yielded,  and  the  entire  town  was  sub 
merged,  causing  much  damage.  The  western  railroads  suffered 
severely  by  the  destruction  of  tracks,  bridges,  and  station  houses. 
The  total  loss  occasioned  by  these  freshets  was  estimated  at 
more  than  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  of  which  nearly  one-half 
fell  upon  the  cotton  crop,  and  one-third  upon  the  grain  crop. 

The  iron  steamer  Austria,  plying  between  New  York  and 
Hamburg,  was  burned  at  sea  on  the  13th  of  September.  She 
left  Hamburg  on  the  3d,  with  five  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
souls  on  board,  of  whom  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  were 
passengers,  the  remainder  being  officers  and  crew.  Additional 
passengers  were  taken  on  beard  at  Southampton.  On  the  after 
noon  of  the  13th,  when  within  three  or  four  days  of  port,  the 
boatswain  was  ordered  to  fumigate  the  steerage  by  immersing  a 
hot  iron  hi  a  bucket  of  tar.  The  tar  became  ignited  and  the 


162  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

flames  spread  with  great  rapidity,  rushing  through  the  gang 
ways  and  hatchways  at  the  entrance  of  the  cabins,  cutting  off 
all  retreat  to  those  below.  Most  of  those  who  succeeded  in  gain 
ing  the  deck  were  on  the  after-part  of  the  vessel,  and  her  head 
being  to  the  wind,  the  flames  were  driven  back  upon  them,  com 
pelling  them  to  leap  overboard.  Attempts  were  made  to  launch 
the  boats,  but  of  those  that  were  loosed  all  except  one  were 
swamped.  As  the  engines  ceased  working,  the  vessel's  head 
swung  round,  and  the  flames  were  driven  forward,  forcing  the 
people  out  upon  the  bowsprit,  from  which  many  flung  them 
selves  into  the  sea;  some  of  whom  sunk,  while  others  supported 
themselves  upon  fragments  of  the  ship.  Two  vessels  were  just 
in  sight  when  the  fire  took  place.  By  these,  ninety-nine  persons 
were  saved,  some  from  the  water,  the  others  from  the  wreck. 
It  was  supposed  all  the  remainder  were  lost. 

The  Crystal  Palace,  erected  in  New  York  for  an  Industrial 
Exhibition,  caught  fire  on  the  5th  of  October,  and  was  con 
sumed  with  the  contents,  involving  a  loss  exceeding  a  million 
of  dollars.  The  Fair  of  the  American  Institute  had  just  been 
opened  in  the  palace,  which  was  filled  with  objects  for  exhibi 
tion,  some  of  which  were  of  considerable  value. 
1859  An  organized  attempt  to  excite  an  insurrection  of  the  slaves 
in  Virginia  was  set  on  foot,  which  startled  and  profoundly 
stirred  the  nation.  On  the  night  of  the  16th  of  October,  John 
Brown,  ananlislavery  enthusiast,  with  twenty-two  armed  men, 
made  a  descent  upon  the  town  of  Harper's  Ferry,  in  Virginia, 
where  was  located  a  United  States  arsenal,  containing  a  large 
amount  of  arms.  The  purpose  of  the  capture  was  to  hold  the 
place  as  a  refuge  for  the  fugitive  slaves  who  might  gain  their 
liberty  upon  the  success  of  the  plans  that  Brown  had  formed. 
The  insurgents  took  possession  of  the  government  buildings 
that  were  left  unguarded,  and  then  some  of  them  proceeded  to 
the  residences  of  two  wealthy  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  made  them 
prisoners  with  such  slaves  as  they  could  secure,  and  brought 
them  to  the  arsenal.  In  the  morning,  as  the  laborers  belonging 
to  the  arsenal  came  one  by  one  to  their  work  they  were  also 
made  prisoners.  As  the  day  advanced,  an  alarm  was  given, 
and  military  companies  from  the  neighborhood  arrived  upon 
the  scene.  During  the  day  shots  were  fired  on  both  sides  by 
which  several  lives  were  lost.  Late  at  night  some  United  States 
marines  appeared  and  invested  the  arsenal  until  morning,  at 
which  time  that  building  was  carried  by  assault  and  Brown  and 
those  remaining  of  his  party  were  captured.  Fourteen  of  the 
insurgents  had  been  killed  in  the  strife;  of  the  citizens  and  sol 
diers,  seven  were  killed,  including  the  Mayor  of  the  town,  and  a 
number  wounded.  Brown  and  his  accomplices  were  promptly 
tried,  convicted,  and  executed. 

Oregon  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State  on  the  14th  of 
February,  with  a  Constitution  prohibiting  slavery  within  its 
borders. 

During  the  year  the  hostilities  of  the  Indian  tribes  on  our 
northwestern  frontier  were  unusually  frequent.  A  report  from 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  163 

the  War  Department  gives  in  detail  official  accounts  of  nineteen 
separate  actions  between  September  20,  1858,  and  October  19, 
1859.  In  these  engagements,  between  three  and  four  hundred 
Indians  were  killed,  wounded,  or  captured;  between  fifty  and 
one  hundred  of  our  troops  were  killed  and  wounded;  and  a 
large  number  of  animals  of  various  kinds  were  taken  from 
the  Indians. 

The  ' '  interviewing"  feature  of  journalism  had  its  origin  this* 
year.  Among  those  stated  to  be  implicated  in  the  raid  of  John 
Brown  on  Harper's  Ferry  was  Gerrit  Smith,  a  noted  anti- 
slavery  advocate.  One  of  the  special  reporters  of  the  New  York 
Herald  was  despatched  to  his  residence  at  Peterboro',  N.  Y., 
where  he  had  a  long  interview  with  that  distinguished  philan- 
tropist.  This  was  published  in  full,  in  conversational  style, 
and  produced  a  sensation.  From  this  period  that  style  of  re 
porting  was  adopted  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Four  aeronauts  ascended  in  a  balloon  from  St.  Louis,  on  the 
first  of  July,  and,  after  travelling  a  distance  of  eleven  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  in  nineteen  hours  and  fifteen  minutes,  landed  in 
Jefferson  County,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  On  the  22d  of 
September,  two  of  the  aeronauts  ascended  in  a  balloon  from 
Watertown,  N.  Y.,  and  after  travelling  four  hours,  landed  in 
Canada  at  a  place  about  three  hundred  miles  distant. 

Mdlle.  Adelina  Patti  made  her  first  appearance  on  any  stage 
as  a  dramatic  vocalist,  at  the  New  York  Academy  of  Music,  on 
the  24th  of  November.  At  this  time  she  had  not  attained  her 
seventeenth  year. 

The  art  of  photo-lithography  was  first  introduced  this  year,  in 
preparing  the  maps  published  in  the  first  volume  of  "  Palfrey's 
History  of  New  England,"  issued  at  Boston;  and  in  Leslie's 
"Iron  Manufacturers'  Guide,"  at  New  York. 

The  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne,  and  Chicago  Railroad  Company 
was  formed  by  the  consolidation  of  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania, 
the  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  the  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  rail 
roads,  making  one  continuous  line  between  Pittsburg  and  Chi 
cago,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  miles. 

Street  railways  were  opened  for  travel  this  year,  for  the  first 
time,  in  Chicago  and  Baltimore. 

1860  The  success  of  the  Republican  party,  in  the  presidential  elec 
tion  of  this  year,  organized  to  fight  the  extension  of  slavery 
into  newly-formed  States  and  Territories,  was  the  culmination 
of  a  long  quarrel  between  the  Southern  States,  where  slavery 
was  a  "  peculiar  institution,"  and  the  Northern  States,  where, 
slavery  having  long  before  been  given  up,  a  sentiment  hostile 
to  it  in  other  sections  had  been  steadily  growing  for  two  or 
three  generations.  The  election  of  Lincoln  as  President,  in 
November,  was  the  determining  circumstance  which  led  to  the 
civil  war  that  soon  followed.  Differences  of  opinion  as  to  the 
power  to  regulate  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  States  and  Terri 
tories  was  the  political  issue  involved;  the  protection  and  de 
velopment  of  the  institution  on  which  the  prosperity  of  the  South 
.almost  exclusively  depended— negro  slavery — was  the  material 


164  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

interest  really  at  stake.  Congress  was  the  scene  in  which  the 
controversy  was  principally  waged.  Orators  like  Wendell 
Phillips  and  William  Lloyd  Garrison  raised  their  voices  against 
slavery  in  the  rostrum;  newspapers  published  earnest  articles 
on  the  same  subject;  books  were  written  to  picture  the  oper 
ations  of  the  system,  one  of  them  being  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  Dickens,  the  English  novelist,  added 
his  satire  to  the  agitation  by  his  "  American  Notes."  But  the 
vehicle  for  the  feeling  thus  aroused  wras  the  Federal  Legis 
lature.  Hither  numerously-signed  petitions  came  from  the 
North,  asking  for  the  abolition  of  slavery;  and  hither  came 
verbal  and  written  protests  from  the  South  against  interference 
with  what  was  considered  a  local  matter  purely,  and  an  in 
vasion  of  State  rights.  Congress  itself  was  a  battle-field  as  early 
as  1820.  When  Missouri  was  admitted  to  the  Union,  a  pro 
tracted  discussion  was  had,  which  resulted,  in  allowing  that 
State  to  have  slaves  but  prohibiting  the  institution  in  new 
States  and  Territories  north  of  latitude  36°  30',  or  west  thereof. 
Arkansas,  which  came  in  later,  gave  the  slave  power  still 
greater  political  influence  in  the  national  councils.  This  was 
increased  further  in  1845  by  the  admission  of  Texas,  which 
had  seceded  from  Mexico;  and  a  prospect  was  afforded  of  more 
slave  States  to  be  erected  out  of  Mexican  territory,  taken  in 
the  war  which  followed,  and  extending  up  north  into  what  is 
now  Colorado.  California,  also  annexed  by  this  war,  was  ad 
mitted  as  a  free  State  in  1850;  but  only  after  prolonged  debate, 
and  the  adoption  of  a  law  facilitating  the  return,  to  their  own 
ers,  of  fugitive  slaves.  New  Mexico  and  Utah  were  erected 
into  Territories  with  scarcely  less  contention.  Oregon  had  been 
constituted  a  Territory  in  1849  writh  some  such  discussion,  too. 
The  fiercest  struggle  between  the  slavery  and  abolition  parties 
was  for  the  control  of  the  region  next  wyest  of  Missouri  and 
Iowa.  In  1854  it  was  divided  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The 
Whigs  and  Republicans  in  Congress  held,  in  this  controversy, 
that,  by  the  terms  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  these  Territories 
were  to  exclude  slavery.  The  Democrats,  the  majority  of 
whom  came  from  the  South,  insisted,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
this  understanding  had  been  abrogated  by^  certain  laws  of  1850. 
Finally,  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  or  home  rule, 
expounded  by  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois,  was 
adopted  regarding  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  the  people  of 
those  Territories  were  left  free  to  allow  or  forbid  slavery  by 
their  own  constitutions,  whenever  they  came  into  the  Union. 
Thereupon  a  race  ensued  between  Northern  and  Southern 
settlers  to  fill  up  and  control  Kansas.  Nebraska  was  not  con 
tested.  For  nearly  six  years  the  disputed  Territory  was  the 
scene  of  much  disorder,  the  colonizers  engaging  in  many 
bloody  affrays.  Two  constitutions  were  adopted  by  different 
assemblies.  One,  framed  at  Lecompton,  allowed  slavery,  but 
at  a  popular  election  it  was  voted  down.  Another,  adopted 
at  Wyandot  in  1859,  prohibited  slavery;  and  with  this,  in  1861, 
Kansas  finally  came  into  the  Union.  So  determined  had  this 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  165 

struggle  over  slavery  been  that  William  H.  Seward,  as  early  as 
1848,  wanted  the  issue  made  the  chief  one  in  the  presidential 
campaign.  Several  years  later,  in  the  Senate,  he  spoke  of  the 
controversy  as  an  "irrepressible  conflict."  The  more  radical 
Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  in  his  unsuccessful  campaign  for 
the  Senatorship  in  1858,  declared  solemnly  his  belief  that  the 
"  Union  could  not  permanently  endure,  half  slave  and  half  free. " 
The  Southern  people,  irritated  by  what  they  looked  upon  as 
impertinent  meddling,  threatened  the  lives  of  such  abolitionists 
as  visited  their  cities;  and  sympathizers  with  the  South  made  it 
uncomfortable  for  these  agitators  even  in  the  North.  Two 
events  which  greatly  embittered  feeling  between  the  two  sec 
tions,  were  the  assault  on  Senator  Sumner,  in  the  Senate  cham 
ber,  and  John  Brown's  raid  into  Virginia.  The  strife  in  Kansas 
also  agitated  the  public  mind,  both  at  the  North  and  South, 
increasing  the  growing  animosity  between  the  extremists  of 
both  sides,  and  converting  to  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party 
large  numbers  of  Northern  Democrats,  among  whom  were  the 
names  of  many  eminent  men.  When  Congress  met  for  its 
winter  session  of  1859-60,  the  triumph  of  the  Free  State  party 
in  Kansas  was  already  achieved,  and  the  would-be  State  stood 
knocking  at  the  door  of  the  Union  for  admission.  The  Southern 
party,  finding  that  the  scheme  of  leaving  the  people  of  a  State 
to  decide  this  slavery  question  for  themselves  had  not  worked 
as  they  expected,  took  the  position  that  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  was  bound  to  protect,  in  the  Territories,  any  citizens  of 
other  States  who  might  go  there  with  slaves,  and  protect  them 
in  their  possession,  too;  in  short,  that  no  restriction  upon  the 
extension  of  slavery  was  constitutional.  _  The  foremost  cham 
pion  of  this  principle  was  Jefferson  Davis,  senator  from  Missis 
sippi,  who  presented  a  series  of  resolutions  embodying  the  idea, 
and,  after  long  debate,  they  were  adopted  by  the  Senate  on  the 
24th  of  May.  This  doctrine  that  the  Federal  Government  must 
protect  slaveholders  in  their  "  rights  "  when  they  settled  in  a 
new  free  State  was  the  central  issue  of  the  presidential  election 
in  this  year.  One  wing  of  the  Democratic  party,  noi  willing 
to  squarely  affirm  it,  ignored  it,  and  nominated  for  President 
the  great  advocate  of  popular  sovereignty,  "  the  Little  Giant," 
as  he  was  called,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois.  Herschel  V. 
Johnson,  of  Georgia,  was  named  for  Vice-President  on  this 
ticket.  The  more  determined  factions  of  the  Democracy 
(Southerners)  reiterated  Mr.  Davis's  proposition,  and  on  that 
platform  nominated  John  C.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  for 
President,  and  Joseph  Lane,  of  Oregon  (now  a  State),  for  Vice- 
President.  The  Constitutional  Union,  or  American,  or  "  Know- 
Nothing  "  party,  took  no  decided  ground  on  the  slavery 
question.  It  nominated  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward 
Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  as  its  national  candidates.  As  in 
1856,  so  now,  the  Republicans  emphasized  the  gospel  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  that  "  all  men  are  created  equal," 
and  denounced  as  dangerous  heresy  this  new  dogma  of  the 
Southerners,  and  deprecated  the  threats  of  disunion  which  were 


166  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

thrown  out  by  the  slaveholders.  The  Democratic  split  pre 
vented  Mr.  Douglas  from  carrying  a  single  State,  left  Mr.  Bell 
in  the  ascendancy  in  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  thus 
robbing  Mr.  Breckinridge  of  part  of  even  the  slave  States,  and 
defeated  him.  Lincoln  carried  every  Northern  State  except 
New  Jersey,  which  was  divided  between  three  candidates.  His 
election  quickly  brought  about  secession.  The  right  of  a  State 
to  withdraw  from  the  Union  had  been  affirmed  and  debated  in 
Congress  and  out  of  Congress  for  at  least  three  decades.  One 
of  the  most  emphatic  assertions  of  it  was  made  in  the  tariff  con 
troversy  by  South  Carolina  in  1832.  Some  concessions  were 
made  in  Congress,  however,  in  tariff  legislation  the  next  Feb 
ruary;  and  the  chief  milliners  decided  to  recede  from  the  posi 
tion  they  had  taken.  John  C.Calhoun,  senator  from  that  State, 
reaffirmed  the  doctrine  in  his  speeches,  however,  repeatedly, 
and  denied  the  right  of  the  national  government  to  "coerce"  a 
State.  The  possibility  of  secession  came  up  for  discussion  after 
wards,  repeatedly,  in  connection  with  slavery,  and  threats  of 
withdrawal  were  continually  being  made  by  Southern  Congress 
men.  It  was  this  association  of  two  ideas  that  led  Daniel 
Webster,  in  combating  them  both,  to  raise  the  historic  demand 
for  "Liberty  and  Union,  Now  and  Forever,  One  and  Insepar 
able."  Not  merely  the  notion  of  secession,  but  practical  meas 
ures  looking  to  it  were  considered.  Toward  the  close  of  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1856,  a  secret  council  of  Southern 
governors  was  held  in  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  upon  the  suggestion  of 
Governor  Wise,  of  Virginia  "to  lay  out  a  programme  for  action 
in  case  Fremont  should  be  elected.  Again,  in  this  year,  dur 
ing  the  presidential  campaign,  the  idea  of  secession  as  a  result 
of  Lincoln's  election  was  discussed,  openly  and  secretly,  at 
various  meetings  at  the  South.  More  than  once  it  had  been 
proposed  in  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia.  Should  the  Republicans  gain  control  of  the  national 
government,  there  was  no  reason  why  they  should  not  carry 
out  that  scheme,  but  follow  it  up  elsewhere — so  the  Southerners 
argued.  Not  only  would  the  extension  of  slavery  into  new 
States  be  prevented,  and  the  development  of  enough  Free  States 
be  accomplished  to  overbalance  the  South,  but  actual  aggression 
against  slavery,  where  it  already  existed,  might  be  begun;  and 
the  Northern  fanatics  would  not  stop  until  they  had  completely 
destroyed  the  slave  system  of  the  South.  But  this  slave  system 
was  that  by  which  the  chief  industry  of  the  South — cotton  and 
sugar  culture — was  conducted.  Abolition  would  paralyze  all 
business,  ruin  agriculture,  and,  since  the  millions  of  slaves  were 
each  worth  several  hundred  dollars  to  their  owners,  the  actual 
wealth  of  the  whole  section  would  be  tremendously  diminished 
by  declaring  the  blacks  to  be  no  longer  any  one's  property. 
Steps  to  accomplish  secession  were  promptly  taken.  The  South 
Carolina  Legislature  was  in  session  in  November,  when  Lincoln 
was  elected.  That  body  immediately  considered  resolutions 
declaring  this  event  a  menace  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the 
South,  providing  for  arming  the  State,  and  calling  a  State  con- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  167 

vention  to  consider  secession  measures.  There  was  some  vigor 
ous  opposition  to  these  schemes,  but  they  were  carried  through. 
The  convention  met  on  December  17,  and,  three  days  later, 
adopted  an  ordinance  of  secession  without  dissent.  This  in 
strument  formally  declared  the  relations  between  that  State 
and  the  others  dissolved.  A  dele  gate  had  been  sent  to  Georgia, 
whose  legislature  was  in  session,  to  advise  similar  action.  In 
formal  but  equally  strenuous  persuasion  was  exercised  in  other 
States  also.  Special  sessions  of  State  legislatures,  governors' 
messages,  ardent  debates,  popular  oratory,  and  other  like 
agencies,  were  now  brought  to  bear  in  all  the  slave  States,  to 
secure  imitation  of  South  Carolina's  example.  Much  objection 
was  offered  to  the  movement  that  had  now  set  in.  In  Georgia, 
Alexander  H.  Stephens,  a  prominent  Congressman,  took  the 
ground  that  while  the  State  had  the  right  to  secede,  it  would 
be  inexpedient  for  her  to  do  so.  Nearly  all  the  slave  States 
seceded  in  the  following  month. 

The  petroleum  oil  business  was  started  this  year,  develop 
ing  intense  excitement  throughout  the  country,  and  an  era  of 
wild  speculation  surpassing  any  heretofore  witnessed  in  the 
United  States  in  any  line  of  business.  The  existence  of  petro 
leum  about  the  head-waters  of  the  Alleghany  River,  in  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  was  known  to  the  early  settlers  of  that 
region,  but  it  was  collected  only  in  small  quantities  from  the 
surface  of  the  water  as  it  stood  in  pools  below  the  springs,  and 
was  used  only  as  a  medicine.  No  suspicion  appears  to  have 
been  entertained  that  the  supplies  could  be  increased  by  sinking 
deep  wells  through  the  sand- stones  and  shales  that  underlay  the 
valley;  and  it  was  not  known  that  by  distillation  and  chemical 
treatment  the  quality  of  the  petroleum  could  be  greatly  im 
proved.  The  progress  of  experiments  made  upon  the  dis 
tillation  of  the  oil,  and  their  success,  began  to  direct  attention 
to  the  localities  where  petroleum  was  produced.  The  first 
movement  in  its  development  was  made  in  1854,  when  two  men 
from  the  city  of  New  York  secured  the  right  to  the  Upper 
Spring  on  Oil  Creek,  Pa.  No  progress,  however,  was  made 
until  the  winter  of  1859,  when  Col.  E.  L.  Drake,  of  New 
Haven,  completed  arrangements  for  boring  a  well  at  Titusville, 
on  Oil  Creek.  On  the  26th  of  August  of  that  year,  at  a  depth 
of  seventy-one  feet,  oil  was  struck,  and  it  rose  within  a  few  feet 
of  the  surface.  This  well  was  the  first  well  ever  sunk  for  oil, 
and  the  first  petroleum  ever  obtained  by  boring.  Upon  apply 
ing  a  large  pump,  a  supply  of  one  thousand  barrels  per  day 
was  produced.  This  success  gave  a  value  to  every  spot  where 
oil  had  ever  been  found,  or  where  it  was  likely  to  be.  The 
matter  became  noised  about,  and  soon  attracted  a  large  number 
of  visitors  and  speculators  from  the  surrounding  country.  The 
news  had  become  so  wide-spread  at  the  commencement  of  this 
year  that  a  scene  of  excitement  beyond  description  was  inau 
gurated.  The  Drake  well  was  thronged  with  visitors  arriving 
from  different  sections  of  the  country,  thousands  pouring  in 
from  the  neighboring  States.  Everybody  was  eager  to  purchase 


168  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

or  lease  oil  lands  at  any  price  demanded.  Almost  in  a  night 
a  wilderness  of  derricks  sprang  up  and  covered  the  entire  bot 
tom  lands  of  Oil  Creek.  Oil  Creek  below  Titusville,  the  valley 
of  the  Alleghany  River  from  below  Franklin  into  Warren 
County,  Pa.,  and  other  places  were  soon  explored  by  wells, 
and  around  the  most  successful  of  these,  formerly  the  most  re 
tired  portions  of  the  State,  villages  began  to  spring  up  and 
rapidly  increase  in  population.  It  has  been  estimated  that  be 
fore  the  close  of  this  year,  the  number  of  wells  in  that  part  of 
Pennsylvania  was  two  thousand. 

The  Prince  of  Wales,  the  heir  apparent  of  the  English  throne, 
arrived  at  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland,  on  the  23d  of  July. 
After  completing  his  tour  through  the  British  Provinces,  he  ar 
rived  at  Detroit,  on  the  21st  of  September,  and  thence  pro 
ceeded,  by  the  way  of  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  and 
Baltimore,  to  Washington,  where  he  arrived  on  the  3d  of  Octo 
ber.  He  remained  the  guest  of  the  President  until  the  7th,  visit 
ing  Mount  Vernon  in  the  interval.  He  then  visited  Richmond, 
thence  proceeded  to  New  York,  stopping  at  Philadelphia  on 
his  way.  Everywhere  in  the  United  States  he  was  most  cor 
dially  received.  He  reached  New  York  on  the  llth,  and  was 
welcomed  by  a  grand  military  and  civic  display.  On  the  fol 
lowing  day  he  attended  a  grand  ball  given  him  in  his  honor  by 
a  committee  of  four  hundred  prominent  citizens.  On  the 
evening  of  the  13th,  a  torchlight  procession  of  firemen  paraded 
in  his  honor.  On  the  15th  he  visited  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point,  thence  proceeded  to  Albany,  where  he  was  enter 
tained  by  the  Governor  of  the  State.  From  Albany  he  went 
to  Boston,  where  he  was  welcomed  by  a  procession  and  a  ball. 
He  then  travelled  to  Portland,  where  he  arrived  on  the  20th. 
After  a  brief  interview  with  the  city  officials,  he  proceeded  on 
board  the  vessel  which  was  awaiting  him,  and  set  out  on  his 
homeward  voyage. 

The  United  States  steamer  Powhatan  arrived  at  San  Fran 
cisco  on  the  27th  of  March,  bringing  a  Japanese  embassy  to 
this  country.  This  embassy  consisted  of  two  principal  ambas 
sadors,  princes  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  empire,  with  two 
associates  of  nearly  equal  rank.  Accompanying  these  were  ten 
officials,  two  interpreters,  two  physicians,  and  fifty-three  servants. 
At  San  Francisco  they  were  treated  with  the  highest  respect 
and  as  guests  of  the  city,  which  appropriated  twenty  thousand 
dollars  for  their  entertainment.  The  Governor  of  the  State, 
the  officers  of  the  corporation,  members  of  the  legislature,  and 
many  private  citizens  visited  them,  and  on  the  2d  of  April  a 

Eublic  reception,  attended  by  the  United  States  officers,  the 
Dreign  consuls,  and  State  authorities,  was  accorded  to  them. 
They  brought  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  defray  their  ex 
penses,  and  many  boxes  of  presents  to  the  members  of  our  gov 
ernment,  though  invited  to  come  as  the  guests  of  our  country, 
and  at  its  sole  expense.  From  San  Francisco  they  went  to 
New  York,  where  they  arrived  in  the  United  States  steamer 
Roanoke  on  the  9th  of  May.  The  embassy  did  not  stop  at 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  169 

New  York,  but  proceeded  in  the  same  vessel  to  Washington. 
There  the  strangers  were  received  with  great  distinction  as 
guests  of  the  nation,  and  the  treaty  which  they  bore  was  for 
mally  ratified.  From  Washington  they  proceeded  to  New 
York,  stopping  at  Philadelphia  on  their  way,  arriving  there,  as 
the  guests  of  the  city,  on  the  16th  of  June.  They  received  a 
similar  reception  in  New  York  to  that  in  San  Francisco,  and 
remained  until  the  29th,  when  they  embarked  on  board  the 
United  States  steamer  Niagara,  which  had  been  put  in  readi 
ness  to  take  them  to  their  homes. 

The  mammoth  steamer  Great  Eastern  left  England  on  the 
17th  of  June,  and  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  28th,  where  for 
several  days  she  was  visited  by  large  numbers  of  spectators. 

The  United  States  steamers  Mohawk  and  Wyandot,  cruising 
off  the  coast  of  Cuba,  captured  several  slavers,  and  brought  their 
cargoes  to  Key  West.  One  of  these  slavers  had  on  board  five 
hundred  and  ten  native  Africans  brought  from  Congo  River  ; 
another  had  five  hundred  and  sixty  who  had  been  purchased 
at  Whydah,  of  the  King  of  Dahomey.  In  all  there  were  seven 
teen  hundred  captured  slaves  gathered  at  Key  West,  among 
whom  great  mortality  occurred.  Provision  was  made  by  Con 
gress  for  sending  these  Africans  to  Liberia.  Another  slaver, 
owned  in  New  York,  was  captured  near  the  African  coast  by 
the  United  States  steamer  Mohican,  with  nearly  nine  hundred 
slaves  on  board,  and  eight  hundred  and  sixty  of  them  were 
landed  in  Liberia,  the  remainder  having  died  on  the  way. 

William  Walker,  the  filibuster,  quietly  left  New  Orleans,  in 
June,  on  another  expedition  to  Nicaragua.  Making  a  descent 
upon  Honduras,  he  attacked  the  town  of  Truxillo,  and  cap 
tured  it  without  any  difficulty.  In  a  proclamation  to  the  peo 
ple  of  Honduras  he  informed  them  that  he  was  making  war, 
not  on  them,  but  on  their  government.  In  August,  the  Presi 
dent  of  Honduras  with  seven  hundred  men  approached  Tru 
xillo,  and  the  commander  of  an  English  man-of-war  in  the 
harbor  demanded  that  Walker  should  give  up  the  town,  on  the 
ground  that  the  British  Government  had  claims  upon  the  re 
ceipts  of  the  custom-house.  Walker  then  abandoned  Truxillo, 
leaving  his  sick  behind,  and  with  eighty  men  retired  down  the 
coast,  followed  by  a  body  of  native  troops,  whose  attacks 
were  repulsed.  In  September,  he  was  overtaken  by  Gen 
eral  Alvarez  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force.  He,  with 
his  men,  surrendered  without  resistance.  Walker  and  his 
second  in  command  were  delivered  to  the  authorities  of  Hon 
duras,  but  the  remainder  of  the  party  were  sent  back  to  the 
United  States.  Walker  was  brought  to  trial,  condemned,  and 
shot.  His  partner  was  sentenced  to  four  years'  imprisonment. 

The  first  steam  fire-engine  used  in  Indianapolis  was  received 
there  on  the  30th  of  March. 

The  New  York  World  made  its  first  appearance  in  June. 

During  this  year  work  upon  the  Central  Park  at  New  York 
was  sufficiently  advanced  for  it  to  be  opened  to  the  public. 

In  January  were  completed  the  last  two  links  hi  the  great 


170  HISTORY  -OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

chain  of  railways  from  Maine  to  Louisiana;  the  first,  the  last 
twenty-five  miles  on  the  Mississippi  Central,  and  the  second  of 
sixty -one  miles  between  Lynchburg  and  Charlottesville,  on  the 
Orange  and  Alexandria  Railroad.  By  the  completion  of  these 
roads,  a  continuous  line  of  railway  , about  two  thousand  miles 
in  length,  was  formed  between  Bangor  and  New  Orleans,  with 
the  exception  of  four  short  ferries,  two  of  which  were  soon 
after  bridged  over. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  10th  of  January,  a  serious  disaster 
occurred  at  Lawrence,  Mass.  The  main  building  of  the  Pem- 
berton  Cotton  Mills,  one  of  the  largest  structures  of  the  kind  in 
the  country,  while  the  machinery  was  in  motion  suddenly  fell 
without  warning,  burying  in  the  ruins  several  hundreds  of  the 
operatives.  Strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  secure  the  victims, 
and  many  were  saved  ;  but  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  the 
ruins  took  fire  from  the  accidental  breaking  of  a  lantern  used  by 
one  of  those  engaged  in  the  work  of  aiding  the  sufferers.  The 
flames  spread  with  such  rapidity  as  to  render  it  impossible  to 
save  those  who  were  shut  up  among  the  fallen  timbers  and 
machinery,  and  large  numbers  were  burned  to  death,  in  addi 
tion  to  those  who  were  killed  by  the  fallen  building.  Accord 
ing  to  a  careful  canvas  of  the  city  made  a  week  after  the  disaster, 
the  number  known  to  be  dead  was  one  hundred  and  seventeen ; 
there  were  eighty-nine  missing,  most  of  whom  were  supposed 
to  be  buried  in  the  ruins;  one  hundred  and  twelve  were  severely, 
and  two  hundred  slightly  injured. 

A  dreadful  tornado  passed  over  a  portion  of  Illinois  and 
Iowa,  on  the  3d  of  June,  occasioning  a  loss  of  over  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  lives.  The  tornado  travelled  ninety  miles  in 
Iowa,  and  seventy  in  Illinois,  causing  an  immense  destruction 
of  property. 

The  steamer  Hungarian,  on  her  voyage  from  Liverpool  to 
Portland,  Me.,  was  wrecked  on  Sable  Island,  Nova  Scotia.  It 
was  believed  that  every  person  on  board  perished— over  two 
luindred,  crew  and  passengers. 

On  the  night  of  the  7th  of  September,  the  steamer  Lady 
Elgin,  plying  on  Lakes  Michigan  and  Superior,  was  run  into 
by  a  schooner,  and  sunk  in  a  few  minutes.  Of  about  four 
hundred  persons  on  board,  less  than  one  hundred  were  saved. 
1861  Abraham  Lincoln  assumed  the  duties  of  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  Hannibal  Hamlin  as  Vice-President,  on  the 
4th  of  March. 

The  Legislatures  of  the  Southern  States  passed  ordinances  of 
secession  from  the  Union  this  year,  in  the  following  order: 
Mississippi,  January  9th ;  Florida,  January  10th :  Alabama, 
January  llth ;  Georgia,  January  19th  ;  Louisiana,  January 
26th  ;  North  Carolina,  January  30th ;  Texas,  February  1st ; 
Virginia,  April  17th  ;  Arkansas,  May  6th.  The  Legislature  of 
North  Carolina  voted  to  submit  the  question  to  the  people;  but 
reassembling  on  the  20th  of  May,  accepted  it,  without  doing 
so.  That  of  Texas  voted  to  submit  it  to  the  people,  and 
on  March  4th  that  State  was  declared  by  proclamation  to 


HISTORY    OP   THE    UNITED    STATES.  171 

be  out  of  the  Union.  The  Legislature  of  Virginia  refused, 
April  4th,  to  submit  the  question  to  the  people  ;  but  afterwards 
voted  to  do  so,  and  a  vote  for  secession  was  cast  on  the  25th 
of  June.  The  Legislature  of  Arkansas,  April  14th,  voted  to 
submit  it  to  the  people,  but  reassembling,  passed  it  on  the  6th 
of  May.  On  the  20th  of  May,  Governor  Magoffin  proclaimed 
Kentucky  neutral.  The  Legislature  of  Missouri  assumed  a 
similar  position.  On  June  12th,  the  Governor  of  Missouri 
issued  a  proclamation  for  fifty  thousand  militia  "  to  repel  in 
vasion,"  and  fled  to  the  South.  The  Legislature  of  Tennessee 
passed  a  declaration  of  independence,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
people;  and  on  the  24th  of  June,  the  governor  proclaimed  her 
out  of  the  Union.  On  the  21st  of  June  however,  a  Union  con 
vention  was  held  at  Greenville,  which  issued  a  declaration  of 
grievances. 

Seven  of  the  "Free  and  Independent  Sovereignties,"  as  they 
considered  themselves,  which  had  already  left  the  old  Union, 
quickly  formed  a  new  one.  Their  delegates  met  at  Montgom 
ery  February  4th,  and  by  the  8th  had  organized  "  The  Confed 
erate  States  of  America,"  with  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi 
for  President,  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia  for  Vice- 
President.  Virginia,  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennes 
see  joined  the  Confederacy  upon  declaring  themselves  out  of 
the  Union.  These  additions  to  the  Confederacy  made  eleven 
members  in  all,  The  other  four  States,  Missouri,  Kentucky, 
Maryland,  and  Delaware,  either  voted  to  remain  neutral,  or 
failed  to  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession;  but  part  of  their  terri 
tory  was  debatable  ground  during  military  operations;  and 
among  their  citizens  were  many  earnest  and  active  sympathizers 
with  the  South. 

The  South  was  not  allowed  to  go  without  some  attempt  to 
compromise  the  difficulty.  Andrew  Jackson  treated  nullifica 
tion  as  treason.  He  denied  that  the  Union  was  a  mere  league 
from  which  any  member  might  withdraw  at  will.  He  insisted 
that  the  States  did  surrender  part  of  their  sovereignty  to  the 
national  government  when  they  formed  the  Union,  and  that  se 
cession  was  not  a  constitutional  privilege.  An  attempt  to 
secede,  therefore,  he  held  to  be  an  act  of  violence  and  a  threat 
of  ruin  to  the  Union,  to  be  resisted  and  punished.  So,  now,  a. 
large  element  in  the  North  held  that  no  compromise  should  be 
assented  to;  but  that  vigorous  measures  should  be  adopted,  in 
order  to  bring  the  Southern  States  back  to  their  allegiance. 
The  attitude  of  the  South  was  well  expressed  in  the  remark  of 
one  of  her  statesmen:  "All  we  want  is  to  be  let  alone."  But 
many  Republicans,  taking  Jackson's  view  of  secession,  did  not 
propose  to  let  the  South  alone,  but  to  treat  her  as  in  rebellion. 
Others  doubted  the  wisdom  of  employing  force.  Some,  dazed 
by  what  was  going  on,  and  uninformed  as  to  Lincoln's  pur 
poses,  had  no  views  at  all.  Others  would  have  let  them  go  in 
peace.  Still  others  were  for  friendly  overtures  and  pacifying 
persuasion.  All  the  winter  of  1860-61  Congress  and  the  press 
.discussed  these  issues,  the  right  of  secession,  the  right  of  the 


172  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Federal  government  to  coerce  a  State,  and  the  expediency  of 
concessions.  Two  peace  schemes  were  conspicuous  among  sev 
eral  under  consideration.  One  was  the  Crittenden  Compro 
mise.  The  Senator  from  Kentucky,  whose  name  it  bore,  intro 
duced  it.  The  essential  idea  of  it  was  a  proposed  amendment 
to  the  Constitution,  fixing  the  old  Missouri  compromise  line, 
latitude  36°  30',  as  the  division  between  free  and  slavery 
territory  in  the  West,  prohibiting  Congress  from  abolish 
ing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  any  State,  and 
providing  for  a  more  effectual  enforcement  of  the  fugitive- 
slave  law.  The  other  project  was  submitted  to  Congress 
by  a  peace  convention  made  up  of  delegates  from  the  vari 
ous  States,  called  by  Governor  Wise  of  Virginia.  This 
body  met  in  February.  It  adopted  a  plan  forbidding  interfer 
ence  with  slavery  wherever  it  existed,  and  allowing  new  States 
to  decide  for  themselves  whether  they  would  allow  slavery,  and 
forbidding  the  annexation  of  new  territory  to  the  United 
States  without  the  consent  of  the  South.  Neither  of  these 
measures  was  adopted  by  Congress.  Mr.  Seward,  who,  as 
Lincoln's  chief  rival  in  the  nominating  convention,  was  looked 
upon  as  probable  Secretary  of  State  and  spokesman  for  the  in 
coming  administration,  met  them  with  a  third  project — to  call  a 
national  convention  to  consider  what  amendments  were  neces 
sary;  but  this  was  rejected  also.  Without  waiting  for  these  top 
ics  to  be  disposed  of,  the  Senators  and  Congressmen  from  the 
eleven  States  which  had  then  seceded  withdrew  from  the  Na 
tional  Legislature  in  Washington.  South  Carolina's  senators 
resigned  in  November.  Most  of  the  withdrawals  were  in  Jan 
uary,  and  a  few  of  them  were  prefaced  by  short  formal 
speeches.  Jefferson  Davis  was  one  of  those  to  indulge  in  this 
ceremony.  This  reduction  of  the  Democratic  strength  made  it 
practicable  to  admit  Kansas,  the  thirty-fourth  State,  to  the 
Union  in  February.  The  Morrill  Tariff  Act,  which  Southern 
free-traders  would  have  antagonized,  was  also  passed;  and  only 
the  ordinary  appropriations,  amounting  to  seventy  millions  of 
dollars,  were  made  for  the  coming  year. 

Long  before  the  actual  outbreak  of  the  war  the  local  State  mili 
tia  had  taken  possession  of  nearly  every  fort,  arsenal,  navy -yard, 
revenue- cutter,  mint,  sub-treasury,  custom-house,  post-office, 
and  other  Federal  posts  in  the  South.  Anticipating  this,  Major 
Eobert  Anderson,  at  Fort  Moultrie,  in  Charleston  harbor,  re 
moved  his  little  garrison  of  United  States  troops  to  Fort  Sum- 
ter  by  night  in  December.  Fortress  Monroe,  at  Hampton 
Roads,  Ya.,  was  also  in  Federal  hands;  Fort  Pickens,  near 
Pensacola,  and  works  at  Key  West  and  Tortugas,  Fla.,  also; 
and  this  was  all  that  was  saved.  Some  thirty  forts,  hundreds 
of  cannon,  and  munitions  valued  at  twenty  millions  of  dollars, 
fell  into  Southern  hands.  John  B.  Floyd,  Buchanan's  Secre 
tary  of  War,  who  afterwards  became  a  Confederate  general, 
was  accused  of  stocking  the  forts  and  arsenals  in  the  South 
quite  fully,  with  the  view  of  thus  aiding  the  cause  of  secession. 
The  way  in  which  the  navy  was  dispatched  to  foreign  waters 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  173 

during  the  winter  was  also  thought  to  be  dictated  by  a  desire 
to  help  the  Confederacy  by  disabling,  for  a  time,  Lincoln's  ad 
ministration.  Mr.  Buchanan  believed  that  he  had  no  authority 
to  check  secession,  and  pursued  a  passive  policy,  aiming,  how 
ever,  to  preserve  peace  until  his  successor  should  come  m.  In 
deed,  he  practically  pledged  himself,  by  a  commissioner  se 
cretly  sent  South,  to  remain  neutral. 

The  first  shot  fired  at  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  this  contest, 
perhaps,  was  that  aimed  at  the  steamer  Star  of  the  West,  sent 
down  to  Fort  Sumter  with  provisions,  in  January.  She  left 
New  York  on  the  4th,  and  reached  Charleston  harbor  on  the 
9th.  As  she  came  up  the  bay  that  morning,  a  cannon-ball  was 
sent  into  her  from  Fort  Moultrie.  This  was  the  act  of  the 
South  Carolina  militia.  As  yet  but  one  State  had  seceded 
There  was  no  Confederacy.  Without  trying  to  communicate 
with  Major  Anderson  the  steamer  turned  about  and  left  the 
harbor.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  rapid  occupation  of  other 
fortifications  by  Southern  forces.  The  first  decided  act  of  war 
came  three  months  later.  On  the  llth  of  April,  General  G.  T. 
Beauregard  demanded  of  Major  Anderson  the  surrender  of 
Fort  Sumter  to  the  Confederate  forces,  and  this  being  refused, 
he  began  a  thirty-four  hours'  bombardment  next  day.  The 
fort  was  badly  damaged,  and  Anderson's  rations  were  ex 
hausted,  with  no  prospect  of  relief.  He  therefore  surrendered. 
The  news  of  this  aggression  thrilled  the  country.  Lincoln  im 
mediately  called  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  for 
three  months'  service  in  suppressing  the  rebellion;  and  May  3d, 
for  eighty-three  thousand,  including  seamen,  for  "  three  years 
or  the  war."  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  soldiers  were 
attacked  by  a  mob  while  passing  through  Baltimore  April  19th, 
and,  one  being  killed,  fired  on  the  rioters,  killing  eleven.  Gen 
eral  B.  F.  Butler  commanding  Fortress  Monroe,  at  the  mouth 
of  James  River,  attempted,  June  10th,  to  take  Bethel  Church, 
near  by,  without  success.  General  T.  A.  Morris,  with  Indiana 
and  Ohio  troops,  invaded  Virginia  from  Parkersburg,  and  won 
a  slight  victory  at  Philippi.  General  George  B.  McClellan, 
taking  command  in  Western  Virginia,  followed  this  up  with 
another  more  decisive,  at  Rich  Mountain,  July  llth.  Another 
battle,  September  14th,  won  by  General  W.  S.  Rosecrans, 
practically  secured  to  the  Union  the  region  now  included  in 
West  Virginia.  Colonel  Lew  Wallace  drove  a  small  Confederate 
force  from  Romney,  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  June  llth.  Gen 
eral  Robert  Patterson  was  thus  enabled  to  safely  invade  the  Shen- 
andoah  Valley  from  the  north.  He  occupied  Winchester,  and 
was  instructed  to  keep  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston's  Confed 
erate  troops  from  going  eastward  to  Manassas,  where  now  the 
chief  battle  of  the  year  was  to  be  fought.  The  main  Union 
army  under  General  Irwin  McDowell,  advanced  westward  in 
July  from  Alexandria,  Va.  A  skirmish  with  Beauregard's 
troops  occurred  near  Bull  Run,  the  18th;  and  a  battle  ensued 
the  21st,  at  Manassas.  The  invaders  seemed  victorious  at  first; 
but  after  noon  six  thousand  of  Johnston's  soldiers  arrived, 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  the  Union  troops  fell  back  in  great  disorder  to  Washing 
ton.  The  Confederate  loss  was  two  thousand  and  fifty;  Union, 
about  three  thousand.  The  disaster  disheartened  the  North. 
Lieutenant-General  Scott,  commander-in-chief,  then  resigned. 
McDowell  was  promptly  superseded  by  McClellan;  and  Patter 
son,  for  not  restraining  Johnston,  was  replaced  by  General  N. 
P.  Banks.  McClellan  threw  two  thousand  troops  across  the 
Potomac  at  Ball's  Bluff  in  October;  but  on  the  21st,  before 
they  could  be  supported,  they  were  attacked  and  routed. 

Missouri  was  invaded  by  Confederates  from  Texas  and 
Arkansas  in  the  spring.  They  were  defeated  by  General  Na 
thaniel  Lyon  at  Booneville,  June  17th;  by  General  Franz  Sigel 
at  Carthage,  July  5th ;  and  at  Wilson's  Creek,  August  10th. 
Lyon  was  killed  there,  after  apparent  victory;  and  Sigel  with 
drew.  The  Confederates  took  Ler'ngton,  which  General  John 
C.  Fremont  recovered  October  16th.  General  David  Hunter, 
and  then  General  H.  W.  Halleck,  succeeded  to  command 
in  Missouri  that  fall.  Before  the  year  closed  the  Union  forces 
practically  controlled  the  State. 

The  Confederates  had  occupied  Columbus,  Ky. ,  in  the  autumn, 
and  Belmont,  in  Missouri,  opposite.  General  U.  S.  Grant  tried 
to  dislodge  them  from  the  latter  place,  November  7th,  but 
was  driven  out  again  by  General  Folk's  men  from  Columbus. 

The  Union  navy  blockaded  most  of  the  Southern  seaports 
this  year,  capturing  many  inward-bound  vessels  with  war-muni 
tions,  and  outward-bound  vessels  with  cotton,  and  helped  troops 
get  a  foothold  along  the  coast.  Commodore  Stringham  and 
General  Butler  took  the  forts  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  N.  C.,  August 
29th,  and  Commodore  Pupont  and  General  Thomas  W.  Sher 
man  captured  those  at  Port  Royal,  S.  C.,  November  7th.  Next 
day,  Captain  Wilkes  of  the  San  Jacinto  stopped  the  British 
merchant-steamer  Trent,  from  Havana  to  England,  and  cap 
tured  Jflmes  M.  Mason  and  John  Slidell,  Confederate  commis 
sioners,  bound  on  a  diplomatic  errand  to  London.  The  Eng 
lish  people  sympathized  with  the  Confederacy  strongly.  The 
British  Government  resented  the  act,  and  a  declaration  of  war 
seemed  imminent.  But  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  State,  Seward, 
having  first  secured  from  England  an  important  admission  of 
the  sacredness  of  neutral  flags  in  time  of  war,  the  prisoners 
were  surrendered. 

In  Congress,  practically  nothing  was  done,  during  the  close 
of  Buchanan's  administration,  having  any  reference  to  the  war, 
as  the  war  was  not  then  a  certainty.  After  the  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter,  however,  and  President  Lincoln  had  called  out  the 
troops,  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  the  insurrection 
ary  districts,  declared  a  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports,  and 
taken  other  measures  which  he  thought  the  emergency  required, 
he  felt  the  necessity  of  moral  and  pecuniary  support  from  Con 
gress,  especially  as  the  military  operations  in  May  and  June 
began  to  indicate  the  seriousness  of  the  conflict  already  in 
augurated.  He  therefore  called  an  extra  session  of  Congress 
to  meet  on  the  4th  of  July.  Accordingly  it  convened  on  that 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  175 

date,  and,  after  passing  measures  recommended  by  the  Presi 
dent,  adjourned  on  the  6th  of  August. 

On  the  17th  of  July,  Congress  passed  an  act  authorizing  a 
national  loan  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars. 
For  the  loan,  coupon  or  registered  bonds,  or  treasury  notes,  were 
to  be  issued — the  bonds  to  bear  seven  per  cent  interest,  and 
the  treasury  notes,  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars  each,  interest  at 
the  rate  of  seven  and  three  tenths  per  cent;  or  the  Treasury 
might  issue  notes  of  less  amount  than  fifty  dollars,  bearing  no 
interest,  or  notes  bearing  three  and  sixty-five  hundredths  per 
cent;  provided  that  no  such  note  should  be  for  less  than  ten  dol 
lars,  and  that  the  amount  so  issued  should  not  exceed  fifty  mil 
lions  of  dollars.  On  the  5th  of  August,  Congress  passed  a 
supplemental  act,  authorizing  the  issue  of  Treasury  notes  of 
a  denomination  of  not  less  than  five  dollars,  and  such  notes 
payable  on  demand,  without  interest,  not  exceeding  fifty  mil 
lions  of  dollars,  and  that  they  should  be  received  in  payment 
of  public  dues. 

In  August,  Congress  passed  an  act  for  confiscating  property 
in  transit,  or  provided  for  transit,  to  or  from  insurrectionary 
States,  or  used  for  the  promotion  of  insurrection.  On  the  16th 
the  President  issued  a  Proclamation  declaring  the  seceding- 
States  to  be  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  prohibiting  all  commer 
cial  intercourse  between  them  and  the  other  parts  of  the  Union 
without  special  permission  from  the  Government,  under  the 
penalty  of  the  confiscation  of  all  goods  or  vehicles  conveying 
them;  and  declaring  that  all  vessels  belonging  wholly  or  in 
part  to  any  citizen  of  the  insurgent  States  found  at  sea,  or  in  a 
part  of  the  United  States,  after  fifteen  days  from  the  date  of  the 
proclamation,  to  be  forfeited  to  the  United  States. 

Postal  communication  with  the  Confederate  States  was  ordered 
to  be  closed  on  the  first  of  June,  and  letters  directed  there  to  be 
sent  to  the  dead-letter  office. 

At  this  period  there  were  about  sixteen  hundred  banks  in  the 
United  States.  Their  circulation,  on  the  1st  of  January,  was 
estimated  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  at  two  hundred 
and  two  millions  of  dollars;  of  this  circulation,  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  were  in  the  loyal  States. 

Kansas  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  30th  of  January, 
with  a  constitution  prohibiting  slavery  within  her  limits.  On 
the  3d  of  March,  Colorado,  Nevada,  and  Dakota  were  formed 
into  Territories. 

The  Pacific  telegraph-line  between  St.  Louis  and  San  Fran 
cisco  was  completed  on  the  25th  of  October.  For  the  eastern 
part  of  the  line  the  materials  and  tools  were  taken  to  Omaha, 
at  which  point  everything  was  gathered  in  readiness  to  start 
westward.  For  that  part  of  the  line  were  employed  four  hun 
dred  men,  fitted  out  for  a  hard  campaign,  with  a  rifle  and  a 
navy  revolver  for  each  man,  and  with  the  necessary  provisions, 
including  one  hundred  head  of  cattle  for  beef,  to  be  driven  with 
the  train  and  killed  as  needed.  For  the  transportation  of  the 
material  and  the  supplies  for  this  army  of  workmen,  five  hun- 


176  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

dred  oxen  and  mules,  and  over  one  hundred  wagons  were 
purchased  by  the  company ;  and  these  not  proving  sufficient, 
other  transportation  was  hired,  making  the  total  number  of 
beasts  of  burden  seven  hundred  oxen  and  one  hundred  pair  of 
mules.  The  first  pole  was  set  up  on  the  4th  of  July,  and  the 
work  to  Salt  Lake  City  proceeded  to  completion  at  the  rate  of 
about  ten  miles  per  day.  At  the  same  time  that  the  work  was 
progressing  between  Omaha  and  Salt  Lake  City,  another  party 
was  building  the  western  half  of  the  line  between  the  latter 
place  and  San  Francisco,  and  the  two  divisions  were  completed 
about  the  same  time. 

California  was  visited  during  the  autumn  and  early  winter 
by  a  disastrous  flood.  The  streams,  swollen  by  continued  rains, 
flooded  the  valleys,  inundated  towns,  swept  away  mills,  dams, 
houses,  and  destroyed  property  to  the  estimated  value  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars.  The  rains  commenced  early  in  November, 
and  continued  to  fall  without  scarcely  any  cessation  for  four 
'weeks. 

On  the  14th  of  November,  a  destructive  fire  occurred  at  Con 
cord,  N.  H. ,  which  laid  a  large  part  of  the  business  portion  of 
the  city  in  ashes.  A  conflagration  at  Charleston,  on  the  llth  of 
December,  destroyed  property  in  the  business  portion  of  the  city, 
of  the  value,  as  reported,  of  upwards  of  five  millions  of  dollars. 

A  submarine  cable  was  successfully  laid  between  Baltimore 
and  Fortress  Monroe,  after  a  third  trial. 

The  feat  of  telegraphing  from  an  aerial  station  was  accom 
plished,  for  the  first  time,  by  the  aeronaut  Mr.  Lowe,  who 
ascended  in  a  balloon  from  the  city  of  Washington,  to  the 
elevation  of  about  six  hundred  feet.  On  the  10th  of  August,  the 
aeronaut,  Mr.  La  Montaine,  ascended  in  a  balloon  from  a  tug 
boat  in  Hampton  Roads,  to  the  height  of  three  thousand  feet, 
and  successfully  observed  the  position  of  the  Confederate  forces 
beyond  Newport  News  and  at  Sewall's  Point.  On  the  4th  of 
October,  Mr.  La  Montaine  made  another  ascent  in  the  service 
of  the  Union  army  on  the  Potomac.  He  rose  to  the  height  of 
one  and  a  half  miles,  and  was  carried  directly  over  the  lines  of 
the  Confederate  army,  where,  after  making  satisfactory  observa 
tions,  he  threw  put  ballast  and  rose  to  the  height  of  three  miles, 
at  which  elevation  he  struck  a  current  of  air  which  passed  the 
balloon  over  Washington,  and  finally  it  descended  in  the  State 
of  Maryland. 

The  first  steel  guns  manufactured  in  this  country  were  made 
at  Trenton,  and  were  ready  for  service  on  the  1st  of  July. 

The  banks  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston  sus 
pended  specie  payments  in  December,  in  consequence  of  the 
withdrawal  of  large  amounts  of  gold  by  depositors  for  the 
purpose  of  selling  it  at  a  premium. 

The  market  price  per  pound  of  Middling  Uplands  cotton  in 
the  New  York  market  on  the  1st  of  January  was  eleven  and 
one  half  cents  ;  on  the  1st  of  April,  twelve  and  five  eighths  ;  on 
the  1st  of  July,  fourteen  and  five-eighths  ;  and  on  the  first  of 
October,  twenty-one  to  twenty-one  and  a  half  cents. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  17? 

1862  Military  operations  in  the  West  and  Southwest  commenced 
early  in  the  year.  Col.  J.  A.  Garfield  won  a  slight  victory  at 
Big  Sandy  River,  in  Eastern  Kentucky,  on  the  9th  of  January. 
Ten  days  later,  Gen.  George  H.  Thomas  secured  one  more 
decisive  at  Mill  Spring,  in  the  same  region.  The  Confederate 
general  Zollicoffer  was  killed  there.  Further  operations  in 
that  locality  were  suspended  by  the  commander  of  that  depart 
ment,  Gen.  Buell,  to  await  the  result  of  those  directed  by 
Gen.  Halleck  farther  west.  The  latter  sent  Gen.  Grant 
against  Fort  Henry,  on  the  Tennessee  River,  at  the  southern 
border  of  Kentucky ;  the  post  was  evacuated  on  the  6th  of 
February,  its  garrison  going  to  Fort  Donelson,  on  the  Cumber 
land,  in  Northern  Tennessee.  Grant  pursued  with  80,000  men, 
and  Commodore  Foote  co-operated  with  his  gun-boats.  Foote 
was  wounded  in  an  engagement  the  14th ;  a  hard  battle  ensued 
the  15th;  and  on  the  16th,  Gen.  Buckner,  commander,  sur 
rendered  the  fort,  with  10,000  men  as  prisoners  of  war. 
This  was  by  far  the  most  brilliant  and  useful  victory  yet  won 
by  Union  arms.  It  practically  dislodged  the  Confederates  from 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  without  another  stroke.  Federal 
troops  under  Grant  then  occupied  Pittsburg  Landing,  on  the 
Tennessee,  near  Northwestern  Mississippi.  Here  they  were 
fiercely  assaulted,  April  6th,  by  a  Confederate  army  under  Gen. 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  and  nearly  routed,  though  Johnston 
was  killed.  Buell's  supporting  column,  advancing  from  Nash 
ville,  arrived  that  night,  and  next  day  Grant  was  able  to  repel 
the  enemy,  who  renewed  the  attack  under  Beauregard.  The 
losses  on  each  side,  the  two  days,  were  about  10,000— much  the 
heaviest  yet  witnessed  in  this  war.  Upon  withdrawing  from 
Columbus,  Ky.,  the  Confederates  had  fortified  at  Island  No.  10, 
in  the  Mississippi.  Beset  by  Gen.  John  Pope,  who  had  taken 
New  Madrid,  on  the  west  bank,  and  by  Commodore  Foote's 
fleet,  they  surrendered  April  7,  after  twenty-three  days'  bom 
bardment.  Union  gun-boats  were  now  able  to  go  down  to 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  which  city  was  peaceably  occupied  June  6th. 
While  these  operations  were  being  conducted  in  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee,  Union  troops  led  by  Gen.  Curtis  crossed  into 
Arkansas  from  Southwestern  Missouri  in  March.  He  was 
vigorously  attacked  on  the  6th  and  7th  at  Pea  Ridge,  and  held 
his  ground.  The  enemy  lost  two  generals,  Mclntosh  and  Mc- 
Culloch,  but  in  men  the  Union  losses  were  heaviest,  and 
Curtis's  victory  had  no  practical  result.  On  the  19th  of  Sep 
tember,  Grant,  assisted  by  Rosecrans,  defeated  Gen.  Sterling 
Price  at  luka,  Northeastern  Mississippi.  Grant,  with  part  of 
his  troops,  withdrew  to  La  Grange,  Tenn.,  leaving  Rosecrans 
to  occupy  Corinth,  Miss.,  which  Price  evacuated.  Price  and 
Van  Dorn  attacked  Rosecrans  here,  with  superior  numbers, 
October  3d  and  4th  ;  but,  after  a  stubborn  fight,  they  fell  back 
defeated.  In  December,  Gen.  Wm.  Tecumseh  Sherman  moved 
down  from  Memphis  to  Chickasaw  Bayou,  on  the  Yazoo  River, 
to  threaten  Vicksburg,  Miss.;  and  Grant,  from  La  Grange, 
further  east,  pushed  into  Mississippi  to  support  the  movement. 


178  HISTORY    OP   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  latter's  communications  were  cut  at  Holly  Springs  by  Van 
Dora,  the  20th,  and  he  was  obliged  to  retreat,  Sherman  was 
badly  defeated  on  the  29th,  and  precipitately  took  transports  on 
the  Mississippi  Kiver  for  Memphis. 

Tennessee  and  Kentucky  were  again  contested  this  year. 
Gen.  Kirby  Smith  led  one  Confederate  force  rapidly  northward 
in  August,  taking  Richmond,  Ky.,  the  30th,  and  then  Lexing 
ton,  and  the  State  capital,  Frankfort.  Gen.  Bragg,  with  an 
other,  advanced  from  Chattanooga,  captured  four  thousand 
five  hundred  Union  troops  at  Mumfordsville,  Tenn.,  September 
17th,  and  then  tried  to  join  Smith  and  reach  Louisville,  Ky. 
Cincinnati  was  saved  by  the  exertions  of  Gen.  Lew  Wallace  ; 
and  Buell,  coming  up  from  Nashville,  headed  Bragg  off,  forc 
ing  him  to  retire.  A  severe  but  rather  indecisive  engage 
ment  ensued  at  Perryyille,  Ky.,  October  8th.  Bragg  then  con 
tinued  his  retreat,  taking  four  thousand  wagon-loads  of  spoils 
from  the  State.  Rosecrans  now  succeeded  Buell  in  command 
at  Nashville.  Bragg  was  thirty-two  miles  southeastward,  at  Mur- 
freesboro,  near  which,  at  Stone  River,  severe  battles  were 
fought,  December  31st  and  January  2d  (1863).  Bragg  was 
obliged  to  retire  to  Tullahoma  for  the  winter.  The  losses  at 
Stone  River  were  ten  thousand  or  twelve  thousand  on  each 
side.  Rosecrans  received  hearty  official  praise  for  his  success. 

In  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  in  March,  General  Banks  had  ad 
vanced  as  far  southward  as  Harrisonburg;  but  Stonewall  Jack 
son,  entering  the  valley  from  the  eastward  at  Front  Royal, 
obliged  him  to  hurry  back  to  the  Potomac.  Fremont,  bv  a 
similar  manoeuvre,  tried  to  force  Jackson  to  retreat,  but  in  vain. 

The  Union  blockading  fleet  in  Hampton  Roads,  Va.,  was 
attacked  March  8th  by  a  strange-looking  monster,  fitted  out  at 
Norfolk.  It  was  the  iron-clad  ram  Virginia,  constructed  from 
the  hull  of  the  old  war-ship  Merrimac.  The  frigates  Congress 
and  Cumberland  were  sunk  by  it.  The  event  created  a  panic 
in  Northern  seaports.  The  next  day,  however,  the  Virginia 
was  met  by  a  small  new  war-rvessel  called  the  Monitor,  in 
vented  by  John  Ericsson,  which  arrived  in  the  night  from  the 
North.  It  was  iron-clad,  and  had  only  a  revolving  turret,  con 
taining  heavy  guns  above  deck.  This  craft,  after  a  five  hours' 
contest,  put  the  Virginia  to  flight.  This  brilliant  event  revolu 
tionized  naval  architecture,  and  opened  a  new  route  to  Rich 
mond  for  the  Union  army. 

McClellan  had  designed  advancing  upon  the  Confederate 
capital  from  the  north;  and  in  March  began  pushing  forward 
from  the  vicinity  of  Washington,  with  200,000  men.  He  haa 
reached  the  Rappahanock  River  without  serious  resistance,  when 
the  War  Department  compelled  him  to  change  his  plans.  Leav 
ing  Pope  in  command  on  the  Rappahannock,  he  took  120,000 
troops  by  water  around  to  Fortress  Monroe,  whence,  April  4th, 
he  pushed  northeastward.  A  siege  reduced  Yorktown  May  4th, 
and  opened  most  of  the  peninsula  between  the  James  and  York 
rivers  to  him.  Victories  at  Williamsburg  and  West  Point  en 
abled  him  to  reach  the  Chickahominy  River  before  the  close  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  179 

the  month.  Having  crossed  it,  he  pressed  on  to  Fair  Oaks  (or 
Seven  Pines),  within  seven  miles  of  Richmond,  where  the  enemy 
gave  battle  the  31st  and  June  1st.  After  a  hard  and  bloody 
struggle  the  Confederates  gave  way.  Their  commander,  John 
ston,  was  badly  wounded.  General  Robert  E.  Lee  succeeded  him, 
and  retained  the  chief  leadership  through  the  rest  of  the  war. 
McClellan,  instead  of  following  up  the  enemy,  now  paused  to 
build  bridges  and  roads,  and  to  shift  his  base  from  the  York  to 
the  James  River.  General  Wood  had  facilitated  this  by  occupy 
ing  Norfolk,  from  Fortress  Monroe.  McClellan  asked  for  rein 
forcements  at  Washington  at  this  juncture,  but  did  not  get  them. 
Lee,  at  this  time,  had  but  25,000  men  near  Richmond,  although 
his  force  was  estimated  at  much  more.  He  summoned  Stone 
wall  Jackson's  force  from  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and,  thus 
recruited,  assumed  the  offensive.  At  Oak  Grove,  June  25th,  he 
gave  battle,  without  result;  renewed  the  attack,  next  day,  at 
Mechanicsville,  and  was  repulsed;  delivered  another  blow  the 
27th,  at  Gaines's  Mill,  forcing  Fitz-John  Porter  to  give  way;  did 
little  fighting  the  28th;  struck  the  Union  forces,  both  at  Savage 
Station,  where  Sumner's  corps  held  its  ground  firmly,  and  at 
White  Oak  Swamp  the  29th.  Hostilities  were  less  fierce  next 
day.  Meantime,  McClellan  was  retreating  toward  James  River. 
Here,  at  Malvern  Hill,  twelve  miles  below  Richmond,  came 
the  most  terrible  battle  of  the  Peninsular  campaign — the  last 
of  the  Seven  Days'  Fight.  Lee  charged  the  concentrated  Union 
army  July  1st,  repeatedly  and  desperately,  but  could  not  dis 
lodge  it.  Ten  days  later,  General  H.  W.  Halleck  was  made 
general-in-chief  at  Washington.  He  soon  directed  McClellan 
to  bring  back  his  army,  by  water,  to  the  Potomac.  The  trans 
fer  was  gradually  effected  late  in  August. 

Lee  continued  the  aggressive,  and  startled  the  North.  Banks 
was  first  defeated,  and  prevented  from  helping  Pope.  The  lat 
ter  was  flanked  by  Stonewall  Jackson,  who  occupied  Manassas, 
capturing  valuable  stores.  Here  Pope,  who  had  fallen  back 
from  the  Rappahannock,  attacked  him,  August  28th  and  29th, 
hoping  to  rout  him  before  Lee  could  come  up.  The  neglect  of 
Fitz-John  Porter  to  support  Pope,  as  directed,  made  this  scheme 
a  failure,  and  the  second  battle  of  Manassas,  like  the  first  (in 
1861),  was  a  Union  disaster.  Porter  was  tried  by  court-martial, 
and  dismissed  from  the  service.  At  Chantilly,  the  Union  troops 
were  again  defeated,  and  Generals  Kearney  and  Stevens  were 
killed.  Pope  and  his  shattered  force  having  retreated  to 
Washington,  Lee  advanced  without  resistance  through  Freder 
ick  and  Hagerstown,  Md.,  captured  Harper's  Ferry,  and 
threatened  the  national  capital.  McClellan,  whose  magnetism 
had  made  him  the  idol  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  who  had 
shown  great  mastery  of  military  art  in  organizing  the  raw,  un 
disciplined  troops  which  had  been  given  him,  had  planned  a 
campaign  against  Richmond  early  in  the  year,  from  the  north. 
With  great  reluctance  he  yielded  to  the  command  from  Wash 
ington  to  abandon  it  and  to  undertake  the  Peninsular  campaign. 
This  opened  with  great  promise,  but  ended  in  disaster.  The 


180  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

result,  he  felt,  was  due  to  the  refusal  of  the  War  Department  to 
give  him  needed  reinforcements.  The  North,  however,  not 
knowing  the  merits  of  the  case,  but  greatly  disappointed  in  the 
apparent  results,  judged  him  severely.  When  Hal  leek,  sum 
moned  in  July  from  St.  Louis  to  Washington  to  direct  all  the 
military  operations  of  the  country,  ordered  McClellan  up  from 
the  Peninsula  to  Acquia  Creek,  on  the  lower  Potomac,  the  latter 
was  left  there  inactive,  in  disgrace.  But  when  Pope  was  routed 
at  Bull  Run,  and  Maryland  was  invaded,  the  hero  of  Fair  Oaks 
promptly  interposed  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  between  Wash 
ington  and  the  enemy,  and  reached  out  to  the  westward,  feeling 
for  the  latter.  He  was  fortunate  enough  to  capture  a  general 
order  of  Lee's,  September  12th,  which  revealed  the  whole  Con 
federate  plan.  Harper's  Perry  was  the  principal  objective  point; 
and  the 'force  thrown  out  towards  Washington  was  a  rear-guard 
for  the  rest  of  the  Confederate  army.  On  the  14th,  this  body 
was  attacked  by  Generals  Hatch  and  Doubleday  on  South  Moun 
tain,  and  defeated  with  considerable  loss.  Franklin  also  won  a 
victory  at  another  gap  in  the  same  ridge.  The  enemy  fell  back 
on  Sharpsburg,  but  meantime  continued  the  movement  against 
Harper's  Ferry,  which  fell  next  day.  Just  west  of  South 
Mountain,  Antietam  Creek  runs  southwardly  into  the  Potomac. 
Along  this  stream  McClellan  now  formed  his  forces  for  a  deci 
sive  conflict.  On  the  16th,  Hooker  crossed  the  stream,  got 
around  to  the  northward  of  Lee,  and  secured  an  advantageous 
position.  Next  day  the  two  armies  came  together  at  Antietam 
Creek.  Hooker  began  the  battle  on  the  right,  and  Burnside  on 
the  left.  Porter,  near  the  centre,  was  kept  in  reserve  until  late 
in  the  day  Mansfield,  Sumner,  and  Franklin  were  to  support 
Hooker.  One  of  the  most  bitterly  contested  spots  on  the  field 
was  a  cornfield  in  Hooker's  front.  Before  night  it  was  literally 
soaked  with  blood.  Ricketts'  and  Meade's  divisions  first  drove 
Stonewall  Jackson's  division  across  this  tract  into  the  woods, 
with  great  loss  on  both  sides.  Hood  coming  to  Jackson's  aid, 
sent  them  back  with  equal  carnage.  Mansfield  now  reinforced 
the  Union  line,  but  was  struck  down,  fatally  wounded.  Hooker 
rallied  the  combined  corps,  but  was  driven  from  the  field  by  a 
painful  wound  in  the  foot.  Sumner  now  took  command,  and 
brought  up  fresh  troops.  Sedgwick  now  regained  the  corn 
field.  He,  too,  was  wounded  thrice,  and  forced  personally  to 
retire,  and  his  division  at  length  came  back  over  the  bloody  soil. 
Franklin's  corps  now  came  up,  and  Smith's  division  for  a  third 
time  took  the  cornfield,  with  terrible  losses  on  both  sides.  Good 
work  was  done  near  the  centre  now  by  French  and  Richardson 
Burnside  had  pushed  out  toward  Sharpsburg,  in  the  morning; 
but  Lee  was  reinforced  by  his  troops  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and 
drove  the  Union  left  back  in  confusion.  General  Rodman, 
while  rallying  his  division,  fell  mortally  wounded,  and  McClel 
lan  claimed  the  result  of  the  day's  conflict  as  a  Union  victory, 
although  his  lines  had  been  advanced  but  little.  The  losses 
were  not  far  from  10,000  on  each  side.  The  next  day,  McClel 
lan  prepared  for  another  advance  on  the  19th-,  but  when  the 


HISTORY    OP   THE    UNITED    STATES.  181 

second  day  dawned,  Lee  had  disappeared  from  his  front,  and 
was  back  in  Virginia.  Pursuit  was  given  cautiously,  but  not 
another  blow  was  struck.  A  Confederate  cavalry  force  under 
General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  made  a  complete  circuit  around  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  about  this  time,  and  returned  to  Virginia 
in  safety.  McClellan's  failure  to  attack  soon  after  the  battle  of 
Autietam  excited  fresh  unfavorable  criticism,  and,  in  Novem 
ber,  while  his  line  was  extended  along  the  Rappahannock,  he 
was  replaced  in  command  by  General  Burnside.  This  officer, 
before  sharing  in  the  battle  of  Antietam,  had  co-operated  with 
Commodore  Goldsboro  in  the  capture  of  Roanoke  Island.  This 
he  had  followed  up  by  occupying  Newberne  and  Beaufort, 
1ST.  C.  The  new  commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
threw  his  force  across  the  Rappahannock  in  December.  Lee 
waited  until  the  work  was  done.  Then,  the  13th,  he  terribly 
assailed  the  Union  Hues.  He  was  bravely  but  ineffectually  met. 
Two  nights  later  Burnside  quietly  withdrew. 

General  Gillmore,  April  llth,  captured  Fort  Pulaski,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.  Admiral  Farragut,  after  a  week 
of  hard  fighting  on  the  Mississippi,  took  the  forts  below  New- 
Orleans,  and  landed  General  Butler's  troops  in  that  city,  April 
25th. 

In  February,  Congress  passed  an  act  for  the  additional  issue 
of  Treasury  notes.  By  it  ten  millions  of  dollars  in  notes  for  a 
less  denomination  than  five  dollars  were  authorized  to  be  issued,  in 
addition  to  the  fifty  millions  previously  authorized .  These  issues 
were  to  be  receivable  for  all  payments,  including  customs,  that 
might  be  due  to  the  government.  On  the  25th  of  February,  the 
President  approved  what  was  called  the  Legal  Tender  Act, 
passed  by  Congress.  By  it,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was 
authorized  to  issue  notes  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  dollars,  not  bearing  interest,  payable  in  Washington 
and  New  York,  none  to  be  less  than  five  dollars,  but  fifty 
millions  of  dollars  of  these  to  be  in  lieu  of  the  same  amount  of 
Treasury  notes  issued  under  the  act  of  July  17,  1861,  which 
were  to  be  taken  up  as  soon  as  practicable.  These  notes  were 
to  be  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private,  and  to  be 
received  and  paid  out  by  the  government  for  all  purposes  except 
ing  duties  on  imports  and  interest  on  the  public  debt;  those 
were  to  be  paid  in  gold.  The  bill  also  authorized  the  issue  of 
Treasury  bonds  to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  millions  of  dol 
lars,  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent,  payable  semi- 
annually,  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government  after 
twenty  years  from  date.  These  bonds,  and  all  other  securities 
of  the  United  States,  to  be  exempt  from  taxation  by  any  State 
or  county.  In  July  another  bill  was  passed  authorizing  another 
issue  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  of  Treasury 
notes. 

By  an  act  of  Congress  passed  in  April,  slavery  was  abolished 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  act  provided,  for  a  commis 
sion  to  remunerate  loyal  owners.  Not  over  three  hundred 
dollars  a  slave  were  to  be  paid,  and  one  million  of  dollars  were 


182  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

appropriated  for  the  purpose.  One  hundred  thousand  dollars 
were  also  appropriated  for  their  colonization.  An  act  was  also 
passed  abolishing  slavery  in  the  "Territories  of  the  United 
States  now  existing,  or  which  may  at  any  time  hereafter  be 
formed  or  acquired  by  the  United  States." 

In  July,  Congress  passed  an  act  to  collect  an  internal  revenue. 
A  tax  was  to  be  imposed  upon  domestic  manufactures,  trades, 
and  occupations,  and  it  provided  a  system  of  stamps,  licenses, 
income,  and  other  duties.  A  tax  averaging  three  per  cent  on 
manufactured  articles  was  imposed,  most  of  which  were  enu 
merated;  of  those  enumerated,  distilled  spirits  were  to  pay 
twenty  cents  per  gallon;  ales,  one  dollar  per  barrel.  Licenses, 
varying  from  five  to  two  hundred  dollars,  were  imposed  upon 
almost  every  profession;  stamps,  from  three  cents  to  one  dollar 
upon  the  paper  used  for  bills  of  exchange,  and  from  one  to  twenty 
dollars  upon  conveyances  of  real  estate.  The  income-tax  to  be 
three  per  cent  on  the  excess  over  six  hundred  dollars  of  all  in 
comes  up  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  five  per  cent  on  those 
greater. 

On  the  1st  of  July  the  President  approved  an  act  of  Congress 
granting  aid  for  the  construction  of  a  line  of  railroad  from 
the  Missouri  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  act  granted  a 
subsidy  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars  in  government  bonds,  per 
mile,  for  that  portion  of  the  line  between  the  Missouri  River  and 
the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  forty-eight  thousand  dollars 
per  mile  for  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through 
the  mountain  range ;  thirty-two  thousand  dollars  per  mile  between 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Sierra  Nevada  range;  forty-eight 
thousand  dollars  per  mile  across  that  range,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles;  and  thirty-two  thousand  dollars  per 
mile  for  the  California  section.  This  subsidy  was  to  be  a  first 
lien  upon  the  railroad.  By  subsequent  legislation,  that  sub 
sidy  was  made  a  second  mortgage,  and  gave  the  railroad  com 
pany  a  right  to  issue  a  first  mortgage  to  secure  its  own  bonds 
for  an  amount  equal  to  those  of  the  government  issue.  The 
act  also  granted  to  the  company  a  right  of  way,  four  hundred 
feet  in  width,  for  the  whole  distance,  and  a  grant  of  twelve 
thousand  eight  hundred  acres  of  land,  on  the  line  of  the  road, 
for  each  mile  of  the  railway  constructed. 

The  President,  on  the  17th  of  July,  approved  an  act  of 
Congress  confiscating  the  property  and  emancipating  the  slaves 
of  all  rebels  in  arms  after  sixty  days,  if  they  did  not  submit; 
and  on  the  25th,  he  issued  a  proclamation  warning  all  such  per 
sons  to  return  to  their  allegiance,  under  pain  of  the  penalties 
provided  for  in  the  act.  The  bill  provided  that  any  person  that 
should  be  convicted  of  treason  would  be  punished  by  death, 
or,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  by  imprisonment  for  not  less 
than  five  years,  and  a  fine  of  not  less  than  ten  thousand  dollars; 
his  slaves  in  either  case  to  be  set  free.  Any  person  engaging 
in  or  aiding  rebellion  to  be  punished  by  imprisonment  not  ex 
ceeding  ten  years,  or  a  fine  not  exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars,  or 
both;  his  slaves  to  be  set  free.  Persons  found  to  be  guilty  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  183 

treason  to  be  incapable  of  holding  any  office  under  the  United 
States.  It  also  provided  for  the  seizure  of  the  property  of  per 
sons  holding  certain  specified  civil,  naval,  or  military  offices  un 
der  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Slaves  of  any  person  engaged 
in  rebellion,  coming  in  any  way  into  the  power  of  the  United 
States  forces,  were  to  be  considered  prisoners  of  war,  and  not 
again  held  as  slaves.  No  fugitive  slave  should  be  given  up, 
unless  the  claimant  made  oath  that  he  had  not  been  engaged  in  re 
bellion.  By  the  act,  the  President  was  authorized  to  employ 
persons  of  African  descent  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion, 
and  he  might  make  provision  for  the  colonization  of  such  freed 
slaves  as  he  should  deem  expedient. 

In  July,  Congress  passed  an  act  increasing  duties  on  imports; 
also  a  bill  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  furnish 
postage  and  other  stamps  to  the  depositories  of  the  United 
States,  to  be  exchanged  for  notes,  and  forbade  the  issue  by  any 
one  of  tokens,  or  of  checks  for  less  than  a  dollar,  to  circulate 
as  money. 

On  the  1st  of  July  the  President,  in  response  to  the  official 
request  of  the  Governors  of  eighteen  States,  issued  a  call  for 
three  hundred  thousand  additional  men  for  the  army.  On  the 
4th  of  August  an  order  was  issued  from  the  War  Department, 
directing  that  a  draft  of  three  hundred  thousand  more  men 
should  be  called  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  to  serve 
for  nine  months,  unless  previously  discharged;  and  also  direct 
ing  that  if  any  State  should  not,  by  the  15th  of  August,  furnish 
its  quota  of  the  three  hundred  thousand  volunteers  previously  de 
manded,  and  authorized  by  law,  the  deficiency  would  also  be 
made  up  by  a  special  draft  from  the  militia.  The  six  hundred 
thousand  men  directed  to  be  furnished  by  these  orders  would 
bring  the  effective  force  in  the  field  up  to  fully  a  million.  It 
was  expected  that  the  special  bounties  for  enlistments  which 
were  being  offered  by  the  different  States  would  probably 
furnish  all  the  three  hundred  thousand  volunteers  without  the 
necessity  of  recourse  to  drafting. 

On  the  8th  of  August,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  ordered 
to  be  suspended.  Orders  were  also  issued  for  the  arrest  of  all 
persons  who  discouraged  enlistments.  Another  order  prohibited 
the  issuance  of  passports,  and  newspaper  correspondents  were 
not  to  be  allowed  with  the  armies. 

On  the  22d  of  September,  President  Lincoln  issued  a  procla 
mation  abolishing  slavery  in  the  Southern  States,  unless  they  re 
turned  to  the  Union  before  the  1st  of  January  following.  On 
the  24th  he  issued  another  proclamation  suspending  the  habeas 
corpus  in  respect  to  persons  held  by  military  authority.  This 
was  done  to  prevent  the  release  of  military  and  state  prisoners. 

On  the  22d  of  November,  a  general  order  was  issued  by  the 
government  for  the  release  of  all  state  prisoners. 

On  the  31st  of  December,  an  act  passed  by  Congress  for  the 
admission  of  West  Virginia,  as  a  State,  into  the  Union,  was 
approved  by  the  President. 

The  water- works  at  New  Haven  were  completed  on  the  1st 


184  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  January,  and  the  inhabitants  supplied  with  water  from  Mill 
River. 

Late  in  the  summer  the  State  of  Minnesota  was  the  scene  of 
Indian  cruelties  and  atrocities,  so  much  so  as  to  compel  the 
Governor  of  the  State  to  call  an  extra  session  of  the  legislature 
for  means  to  be  adopted  to  stop  them.  United  States  troops 
under  General  Pope  were  also  despatched  in  the  emergency. 
In  September,  a  large  body  of  the  Indians  was  overtaken  at 
Wood  Lake  and,  after  a  sharp  battle,  about  five  hundred  of 
the  savages  were  taken  prisoners,  and  after  being  tried  by  court- 
martial,  three  hundred  of  them  were  sentenced  to  be  hung,  but 
the  President  directed  that  but  thirty-eight  of  them  should  be 
executed,  and  the  remainder  placed  in  confinement.  By  this 
insurrection  it  was  estimated  that  not  less  than  three  hundred 
whites  were  killed,  and  two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  in 
property  destroyed.  For  some  months  between  six  and  seven 
thousand  persons,  mostly  women  and  children,  were  dependent 
upon  charity. 

On  the  10th  of  May,  a  conflagration  destroyed  property  at 
Troy  valued  at  three  millions  of  dollars,  including  six  hundred 
and  seventy -one  buildings,  among  which  were  the  Union  Rail 
road  depot  and  several  churches.  Seven  lives  were  lost.  The 
steamer  Golden  Gate,  which  left  San  Francisco  on  the 
21st  of  July,  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  27th,  off  the  Mexican 
coast,  near  Manzanilla.  The  passengers  and  crew,  numbering 
about  two  hundred  persons,  were  mostly  lost.  The  treasure  on 
board,  amounting  to  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars,  was 
also  lost.  On  the  night  of  the  13th  of  August,  the  steamer 
West  Point,  having  on  board  many  sick  soldiers,  came  in  col 
lision  with  another  steamer,  on  James  River,  Va.,  and  was 
sunk,  carrying  down  with  her  about  seventy-five  persons. 

The  price  of  printing  paper,  of  ordinary  news  quality,  was 
advanced  in  the  autumn  from  nine  cents  a  pound  to  twenty- 
two.  Early  in  the  year  the  price  of  fine  writing  papers  was  ad 
vanced  from  thirteen  and  fourteen  cents  per  pound  to  seventeen 
cents  for  flat  cap,  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty -five  cents  for  letter 
and  note  paper. 

The  price  of  cotton  having  advanced  to  an  enormous  price, 
the  manufacture  of  twine  from  paper  was  commenced. 

The  price  of  Middling  Uplands  cotton  in  the  New  York 
market,  on  the  1st  of  January,  was  thirty-five  and  a  half  cents 
per  pound;  on  the  1st  of  April,  twenty-eight;  on  the  1st  of 
July,  thirty-eight  and  a  half;  and  on  the  1st  of  October,  fifty- 
seven. 

Gold  was  first  quoted  at  a  premium  on  the  12th  of  April. 
On  the  1st  of  October  it  was  123. 

1863  General  Banks,  who  succeeded  Butler  at  New  Orleans,  ex 
tended  his  lines,  early  in  the  year,  into  Southern  and  Central 
Louisiana.  He  also  advanced  to  Baton  Rouge  and,  in  May, 
laid  siege  to  Port  Hudson,  a  stronghold  on  the  Mississippi 
River.  Severe  but  unsuccessful  assaults  were  made  on  the 
town,  the  bombardment  being  partly  conducted  by  Farragut's 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  185 


gunboats.  In  September,  Banks  made  an  unsuccessful  at 
tempt  to  get  into  Texas,  by  water,  at  Sabine  Pass.  That  State 
remained  in  Confederate  hands  through  the  war.  In  January, 
Sherman  sent  McClernand,  with  Porter's  fleet,  up  the  Arkansas 
River.  On  the  10th,  they  took  Arkansas  Post  and  five  thou 
sand  prisoners,  after  a  hard  battle.  Two  days  before,  Confede 
rates,  under  Generals  Marmaduke  and  Price,  attacked  Spring 
field,  Mo.,  and  were  repulsed;  they  had  a  similar  fate  at 
Hartsville,  Mo.,  on  the  llth,  and  at  Cape  Girardeau,  April  26th. 
A  Confederate  raiding  party,  led  by  Quantrell,  burned  Law 
rence,  Kansas,  August  13th.  General  Steele  led  a  Union  force 
into  Little  Rock,  September  10th,  and  thereafter  Arkansas  re 
mained  in  his  control. 

Early  in  the  year,  for  three  months,  Grant  operated  against 
Vicksburg,  from  the  region  just  north  of  it,  trying  to  cut  a  canal 
across  the  neck  of  land  where  it  stands,  to  let  the  gunboats  past. 
This  enterprise  failed  Accordingly  Porter  decided  to  run  the 
batteries,  which  he  did  at  night,  April  16th,  without  serious 
damage.  The  seen  a  was  terrible  and  magnificent,  however. 
Six  ironclads,  one  wooden  gunboat,  and  three  transports, 
dropped  down  the  stream  quietly,  under  cover  of  darkness. 
But  the  watchful  Confederate  picket  discovered  their  approach, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  a  whole  row  of  batteries  along  the  bluff 
was  flashing  and  quaking  with  thunderous  discharge.  The 
fleet  returned  the  fire,  and  silenced  a  few  of  the  enemy's  guns. 
The  roar  was  deafening,  and  startled  the  town  of  Vicksburg  as 
it  had  never  been  startled  before.  One  of  the  transports  was 
struck  and  disabled,  but  towed  off  by  a  gunboat.  Another 
got  by  unscathed.  The  third  was  set  afire  by  a  shell  striking 
cotton  bales  piled  up  for  defence  on  board  of  her,  and  she  was 
abandoned.  Five  more  transports  then  ran  down  safely,  but  a 
sixth  was  rendered  helpless  and  sunk.  Grant  now  moved  his 
land  forces  across  to  the  west  bank  and  marched  them  down 
stream.  On  the  29th  the  fleet  opened  a  fearful  cannonade  on 
Grand  Gulf,  below  Vicksburg,  to  capture  the  place  that  Grant 
might  return  here  to  Mississippi.  The  Confederate  position 
was  too  strong  and  too  well  defended  for  this  attempt  to  suc 
ceed.  The  next  day,  however,  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  was 
brought  over,  a  little  lower  down,  to  Bruinsburg.  Here  a 
brilliant  campaign  against  Vicksburg  was  begun.  In  rapid 
succession  he  won  victories  at  Port  Gibson,  forcing  the  evacua 
tion  of  Grand  Gulf,  at  Raymond,  and  then  at  Jackson,  the 
capital  city.  This  last  ended  Johnston's  effort  to  reinforce 
General  Pemberton  in  the  beleaguered  city.  Pemberton  made  a 
rally,  but  was  defeated  at  Champion  Hills,  May  16th.  Grant 
won  another  victory  at  Black  River  bridge  next  day.  On  the 
19th  and  22d,  heavy  assaults  on  the  town  were  repulsed  with 
great  carnage.  Grant  now  settled  down  to  a  siege,  Porter  as 
sisting  by  a  heavy  bombardment.  Starved  out,  Pemberton 
surrendered  July  4th.  Learning  of  this  event,  General  Gard 
ner  yielded  Port  Hudson  to  Banks  on  the  8th.  The  whole 
Mississippi  River  was  now  open.  During  the  operations  against 


186  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Vicksburg,  Grierson's  Illinois  cavalry  made  a  dash  from  Ten 
nessee,  east  of  Jackson,  to  Baton  Rouge,  destroying  railroads 
and  other  property.  Colonel  Streight  attempted  a  like  raid  into 
Georgia,  but  was  captured  by  the  Confederates  under  Forrest. 
General  John  Morgan,  a  daring  Southern  cavalryman,  in  the 
summer  pushed  up  through  Kentucky,  crossed  into  Indiana, 
passing  thence  to  Ohio,  where  he  was  caught. 

General  Joseph  Hooker,  who  had  done  effective  service  at 
Antietam,  succeeded  Burnside  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  after  the  disaster  at  Fredericksburg.  In  the  spring 
he  crossed  the  Rappahannock  and  Rapidan  rivers.  Just  south 
of  the  latter,  at  Chancellorsville,  May  3d,  his  army  received  an 
attack  of  terrible  fury.  In  this  battle  Stonewall  Jackson  was 
fatally  wounded  by  a  volley  from  his  own  men.  Lee  renewed 
the  assault  next  day.  Hooker  held  his  ground  for  the  time, 
but  retreated  on  the  5th.  His  loss  was  seventeen  thousand;  the 
Confederates  lost  five  thousand.  Just  before  this  event,  Gen 
eral  Stoneinan  took  his  cavalry  (Union)  across  the  Rappahan 
nock,  dashed  down  within  sight  of  Richmond,  cut  Lee's  com 
munications,  and  returned  in  safety,  May  8th. 

Lee  now  gave  the  North  another  great  fright.  He  pushed 
up  across  the  Potomac,  reached  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  June 
22d,  and  threatened  Washington,  Baltimore,  and  Harrisburg. 
Hooker,  whose  flank  had  been  turned,  followed  rapidly.  The 
two  armies  concentrated  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  for  a  momentous 
battle.  Here  Hooker,  at  his  own  request,  was  relieved  of 
his  command.  General  George  Meade  succeeded  him.  The 
initial  contest  occurred  July  1st.  Meade  was  considerably 
south  of  the  town,  looking  for  advantageous  ground  on 
which  to  receive  Lee.  But  Buford's  troopers  and  Wads- 
worth's  division  of  Reynolds's  corps,  in  pushing  forward 
to  Seminary  Ridge,  just  west  of  Gettysburg,  came  in  collision 
with  part  of  the  Confederate  corps  under  Hill.  After  an 
engagement  was  begun,  Reynolds  brought  up  his  other  divi 
sion,  but  was  himself  killed  by  a  sharp-shooter.  General 
Doubleday  then  took  command  until  Howard  arrived  with  an 
other  corps.  But  Hill  was  reinforced  by  Ewell ;  and  after  a 
brave  resistance  the  Union  line  was  driven  back.  The  advan 
tage  Avas  not  followed  up,  except  that  the  Confederates  entered 
the  town  without  opposition.  Howard  took  a  position  to  the 
southward,  on  Cemetery  Hill,  where  General  Sickles,  coming 
up  with  his  corps  at  night,  joined  him.  Meade,  then  at  Taney- 
town,  sent  Hancock  forward  to  take  command,  leaving  Gibbons 
to  bring  that  general's  corps  to  the  front.  Hancock  disposed 
the  troops  in  a  horse-shoe  shaped  line,  Cemetery  Hill,  nearest 
Gettysburg,  being  the  toe,  Round  Top  the  western  heel,  and 
Wolf  Hill  the  eastern  heel  or  right  wing.  Next  day  the  rest  of 
the  Union  army  was  brought  up  ;  and  Lee  was  congregating 
north  and  west  of  Gettysburg.  Sedgwick  was  posted  on  the 
extreme  left  on  Round  Top  ;  Sickles  came  next  a  little  farther 
north ;  Hancock  had  the  centre  on  Cemetery  Hill,  looking 
northward  ;  Slocum  was  on  the  right.  Lee  was  again  the  ag- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  187 

gressor,  July  3d,  although  not  much  was  done  but  to  assail 
Sickles's  corps,  which  had  exposed  itself  by  advancing  from 
the  position  Meade  had  designed  it  to  occupy.  To  that  ground 
it  was  driven  back  with  heavy  loss.  Slocum  received  a  slight 
attack  that  day,  but  with  no  material  result.  The  great  battle 
came  on  the  morrow.  During  the  forenoon  Lee  got  his  artillery 
into  position  for  a  terrible  concentrated  fire  on  Cemetery  Hill, 
the  chief  point  of  attack ;  and  shortly  after  noon  these  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  pieces  began  belching  forth  their  torrent  of 
fire  and  iron.  The  Union  artillery  replied,  but  the  guns  be 
coming  heated,  their  activity  abated. '  Lee  now  threw  forward 
a  solid  line  of  infantry,  nearly  three  miles  long,  charging  not 
only  the  Union  front  on  Cemetery  Hill,  but  the  left  wing 
around  on  Round  Top.  These  advances  were  made  with 
wonderful  nerve  and  force.  They  were  repelled  with  awful 
carnage,  and  renewed  with  appalling  coolness  and  courage. 
The  desperate  struggle  lasted  for  three  hours.  Each  time 
the  enemy  came  on,  the  Union  line  would  recede  slightly 
until  the  Confederates  caught  the  enfilading  fire  of  Meade  s 
guns  ;  and  then  the  flower  of  Lee's  army  would  be  mown  down 
like  grass.  The  assault  failed,  and  the  invader  had  no  resort 
but  to  return  to  Virginia,  and  on  July  4th,  while  Pemberton 
was  surrendering  Vicksburg  to  Grant,  the  demoralized  rebel 
horde  was  hurrying  back  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  losses  in 
this  battle  were  twenty-three  thousand  on  the  Union  side,  and 
even  more  on  the  other.  Sickles  lost  a  leg,  and  Hancock  also 
was  wounded  at  Gettysburg.  Lee  made  another  effort  to  get 
north  in  October,  but  was  checked  at  Centreville. 

Rosecrans  remained  inactive  in  Tennessee  for  six  months 
after  his  victory  at  Stone  River.  Late  in  June  he  began  a  series 
of  flank  movements,  which  crowded  Bragg  southeastward  into 
Georgia,  and  occupied  Chattanooga.  The  Confederates,  out 
numbering  him  seventy  thousand  to  fifty-five  thousand,  turned 
and  struck  him  severely  at  Chickamauga  Creek,  Sept.  19th  and 
20th.  General  Thomas's  corps  withstood  the  attack  firmly, 
and  saved  the  Union  army  from  utter  rout.  The  other  corps 
were  driven  back  in  disorder.  Thomas  finally  withdrew  to 
the  Tennessee  River  into  Chattanooga,  where  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  was  strongly  intrenched.  This  triumph  of  Bragg 
gave  new  joy  to  the  South,  and  caused  much  anxiety  in  Wash 
ington,  as  there  was  some  uncertainty  whether  even  Chatta 
nooga  could  now  be  held.  During  his  Vicksburg  campaign, 
Grant  had  advised  demonstrations  by  Rosecrans  earlier  than 
July,  so  as  either  to  call  off  such  of  Bragg's  troops  as  had  been 
sent  into  Mississippi  to  help  Johnston,  or  to  invade  Georgia 
while  Bragg  was  himself  weakened.  But  Bragg  was  able  to 
strengthen  himself  by  recovering  his  forces  from  the  west  be 
fore  his  attack  at  Chickamauga  ;  for  this  was  two  months  and 
a  half  after  Vicksburg  fell.  He  was  still  further  recruited  by 
Longstreet's  corps  from  Virginia. 

In  October,  the  authorities  at  Washington  created  "the 
Division  of  the  Central  Mississippi,"  embracing  the  Depart- 


188  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ment  of  the  Tennessee,  whose  army  had  done  the  work 
about  Vicksburg,  the  Department  of  the  Cumberland,  com 
manded  by  Rosecrans,  and  the  Department  of  the  Ohio, 
then  under  Burnside,  who  was  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.  The 
whole  was  committed  to  Grant,  the  hero  of  Vicksburg.  Grant 
recognized  the  great  strategic  value  of  Chattanooga,  and  be 
fore  reaching  that  point  in  person,  telegraphed  to  Thomas, 
who  succeeded  Rosecrans  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland,  to  hold  the  place  at  all  hazards.  Burnside,  at 
Knoxville,  was  in  considerable  peril  at  this  time ;  but  Grant 
decided  that  he  could  best  relieve  him  by  defeating  Bragg  at 
Chattanooga  ;  and  all  efforts  were  devoted  to  this  work.  The 
little  town  on  the  Tennessee,  close  to  the  border  of  Georgia, 
was  now  the  centre  of  all  interest.  Hooker,  whose  great  valor 
and  impetuosity  had  won  him  the  pseudonym  of  "Fighting 
Joe  Hooker,"  was  sent  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  with 
parts  of  two  corps  into  Tennessee.  Grant  had  ordered  Sher 
man,  who  succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  to  repair  the  railroads  in  Northern  Mississippi  and 
Alabama,  and  in  Western  and  Southern  Tennessee,  so  as  to 
improve  the  facilities  for  sending  supplies  to  Chattanooga  and 
Knoxville.  But  after  considerable  work  had  been  done,  Grant 
grew  impatient  to  strike  a  blow  at  Chattanooga.  As  Bragg  had 
detached  Longstreet's  corps  and  had  sent  it  eastward  of  Chatta 
nooga  up  to  Knoxville,  it  seemed  possible  that  Burnside,  who 
was  making  a  heroic  and  skilful  resistance,  might  be  overcome 
before  Grant  could  assist  him.  Accordingly  Sherman  was 
ordered  to  drop  work  on  the  railroads  and  come  with  his  troops 
to  the  scene  of  action.  Meantime  such  dispositions  of  troops 
had  been  made  around  Chattanooga  as  to  open  up  the  way  for 
rations  ;  and  the  starving,  ragged  army  of  Thomas  was  again 
well  fed,  well  clothed,  cheerful,  and  courageous.  Just  south  of 
the  Tennessee  River  is  a  long  narrow  hill  known  as  Missionary 
Ridge.  Off  to  the  eastward  is  Chickamauga  Creek,  running 
northward  into  the  Tennessee.  West  of  the  ridge  is  Chatta 
nooga  Creek,  also  northward  bound  ;  and  across  the  valley  rises 
Lookout  Mountain,  another  loftier  range,  which,  like  Mission 
ary  Ridge,  trends  away  to  the  southwestward.  In  October, 
Hooker  had  been  thrown  across  the  river  from  the  north,  west 
of  Lookout  Mountain,  and,  after  some  fighting,  he  gained  a 
good  foothold  there.  One  of  the  amusing  incidents  of  that 
task  was  the  alarm  given  to  a  force  of  Confederates,  in  a  night 
engagement,  by  the  rattling  harness  of  mules  which  frightened 
Union  teamsters  had  cut  from  their  wagons,  but  which  stam 
peded  toward  the  enemy's  camp.  Hooker  held  the  right  of 
Grant's  line.  Thomas  was  at  the  centre  in  Chattanooga,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  river,  just  west  of  the  head  of  Missionary 
Ridge.  To  the  east  and  north  of  that  mountain,  on  Grant's 
left,  Sherman  was  to  operate  when  he  came  up.  This  was  not 
until  late  in  November.  On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  long 
before  daybreak,  part  of  Sherman's  men  were  brought  down 
into  their  position,  on  pontoons  from  up  stream,  off  to  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  189 

northeastward,  having  come  around  in  Grant's  rear.  They 
built  bridges  quickly,  north  of  Missionary  Ridge,  and  got 
artillery,  Sheridan's  cavalry,  and  the  rest  of  the  infantry  across. 
An  advance  was  then  made  upon  the  enemy's  works  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill,  and,  after  some  desperate  fighting,  an  advantageous 
position  was  secured.  Grant  stood  on  top  of  an  eminence 
called  Orchard  Knob,  watching  operations  with  a  glass.  Con 
siderable  cloudiness  obscured  the  view  through  the  forenoon  ; 
but  he  could  get  occasional  glimpses  of  what  was  going  on, 
and  had  better  hints  from  the  noise  of  musketry  and  artillery. 
Thomas,  whose  army  Grant  was  not  ready  to  use,  stood  beside 
him  much  of  the  time.  Hooker,  off  to  the  westward,  achieved 
the  principal  conquest  of  the  day.  His  movements  were  con 
cealed  from  Bragg's  watchmen  on  Lookout  Mountain  by  the 
low  clouds.  But  when,  in  force,  he  approached  that  ridge  on 
its  western  flank,  the  enemy's  pickets  discovered  him,  and 
resistance  was  promptly  offered.  The  slope  was  steep,  broken, 
and  wooded,  and  difficult  to  climb  even  if  no  foe  were  there. 
But  such  enthusiasm  pervaded  the  Union  ranks  that  they 
charged  up  the  mountain  until,  at  2  p.m.,  its  very  summit  was 
reached.  This  action  has  been  called  "The  Battle  above  the 
Clouds."  Next  day  (Nov.  25th),  the  Union  advance  was  re 
newed.  Hooker  came  eastward  across  the  valley  to  Missionary 
Ridge,  but  was  so  long  delayed  by  the  enemy's  destruction  of 
bridges  over  Chattanooga  Creek,  that  his  co-operation  was  not 
of  much  assistance.  Grant  was  again  on  Orchard  Knob  watch 
ing  the  scene.  The  day  was  clear.  Thomas  was  beside  him, 
his  army  still  waiting  for  the  order  to  strike.  Grant  did  not 
intend  to  give  this  until  Sherman  had  turned  Bragg's  right  as 
Hooker  had  turned  the  left.  Part  of  Sherman's  force  was  on 
the  eastern  flank  of  Missionary  Ridge,  near  the  head,  and  part 
on  the  western.  Both  soon  carried  some  positions  in  their 
front.  Bra^g  concentrated  his  troops  at  this  point,  massing 
heavily  against  Sherman.  Such  was  the  latter's  peril,  that 
Grant  sent  Sheridan's  and  Wood's  divisions  to  the  scene,  with 
material  effect.  Sherman  now  carried  the  ridge  gallantly,  and 
sent  Bragg  flying.  Sheridan,  continuing  pursuit,  dashed  off  to 
the  southeastward,  near  Chickamauga  Creek,  intercepted  part 
of  the  retreating  army,  and  took  a  lot  of  prisoners  and  stores. 
The  Union  loss  in  the  two  days'  fight  was  five  thousand  six 
hundred  men.  Bragg  lost  more  heavily,  but  chiefly  in  prison 
ers.  The  victory  gave  great  relief  to  the  anxious  North,  espe 
cially  to  the  authorities  in  Washington.  The  fruits  of  past 
victories  were  secure  ;  the  enemy  were  driven  still  further  south, 
into  the  Gulf  States  ;  and  an  important  step  had  been  gained 
in  encircling  what  was  left  of  the  Confederacy.  The  campaign 
had  been  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  skilfully  planned  which 
the  Union  forces  had  waged  ;  andjts  result  inspired  increased 
confidence  " 
year 

it  led  to  Grant's  promotion 
armies  three  months  later.    Burnside,  who  had.  been  sadly 


190  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

beleaguered,  but  had  held  out  successfully,  was  easily  relieved 
after  the  victories  of  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge. 
Sherman  was  sent  to  his  assistance  ;  but  before  help  arrived 
Longstreet  was  retreating  into  Virginia. 

The  Confederate  cruiser  Nashville  was  sunk  by  a  Union  iron 
clad,  while  running  the  blockade  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah 
River  in  March.  Another,  the  Georgia,  was  captured  at  sea 
by  the  Niagara,  Captain  Craven,  August  llth.  Many  other 
captures,  less  conspicuous,  were  made  by  the  fleet.  Dupont 
tried  to  take  Charleston,  in  April,  with  a  naval  expedition,  but 
failed.  In  June,  General  Gillmore  and  Admiral  Dahlgren  laid 
siege  to  the  forts  in  that  harbor,  in  June,  from  Morris  and 
Folly  Islands.  Fort  Wagner  was  vainly  stormed,  July  18th. 
That  work  and  Fort  Gregg  were  evacuated  September  6th. 
Monitors  then  came  up  and  bombarded  Fort  Sumter. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  the  President  issued  an  Emancipation 
Proclamation.  It  specified  Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana  (cer 
tain  parishes  excepted),  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia, 
South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia  (West  Virginia 
and  other  portions  excepted),  as  the  rebellious  States  to  which 
the  proclamation  applied.  The  excepted  parts  were  "for  the 
present,  left  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation  were  not  issued." 
It  then  declared  as  follows:  "  Aiid  by  virtue  of  the  power  and 
for  the  purpose  aforesaid.  I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  per 
sons  held  as  slaves  within  said  States  or  parts  of  States  are  and 
henceforth  shall  be  FREE,  and  that  the  executive  government 
of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authori 
ties  thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said 
persons.  And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared 
free,  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self- 
defence;  and  I  recommend  to  them  that  in  all  cases,  when  al 
lowed,  they  labor  for  reasonable  wages.  And  I  further 
declare  and  make  known  that  such  persons,  of  suitable  condi 
tion,  will  be  received  into  the  armed  service  of  the  United 
States,  to  garrison  forts,  positions,  stations,  and  other  places, 
and  to  man  vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service.  And  upon  this 
act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice  warranted  by  the 
Constitution  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  consid 
erate  judgment  of  mankind  and  favor  of  Almighty  God."  The 
number  of  slaves  declared  free  by  this  proclamation  was  about 
three  millions  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand;  the  num 
ber  excepted  by  it,  about  eight  hundred  and  thirty  thousand. 
Partly  by  way  of  anticipating  this  proclamation,  Mr.  Davis, 
as  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  issued  a  proclamation 
on  the  22d  of  December,  in  which,  among  other  orders,  he 
directed  that  negro  slaves  captured  in  arms  should  be  delivered 
over  to  the  authorities  of  the  States  to  which  they  belong,  to  be 
dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  of  those  States;  and  all  com 
missioned  officers  of  the  United  States,  when  found  serving  in 
company  with  insurgent  slaves,  should  be  treated  hi  the  same 
manner.  As  the  laws  of  all  the  slaveholding  States  punished 
by  death  insurgent  slaves  and  those  who  aided,  them,  this  order' 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  191 

was  equivalent  to  threatening  capital  punishment  to  all  slaves 
in  arms  and  the  white  officers  commanding  them. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  the  President  approved  a  financial 
bill  passed  by  Congress.  The  first  section  of  the  act  author 
ized  a  loan  of  three  hundred  millions  for  the  current  fiscal 
year,  and  six  hundred  millions  for  the  ensuing  fiscal  year,  for 
which  bonds  should  be  issued,  to  be  payable  at  such  times  as 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  might  elect,  not  less  than  ten  nor 
more  than  fortjr  years.  The  second  section  authorized  the 
issue  of  Treasury  notes  to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  mil 
lions,  to  run  not  more  than  three  years,  and  bear  interest  at  the 
rate  of  six  per  cent,  and  to  be  legal  tender.  The  third  section, 
authorized  the  Secretary  to  issue  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  Treasury  notes  without  interest.  The  bill  also  authorized 
the  issue  of  fractional  currency  to  the  amount  of  fifty  millions. 
To  help  a  market  for  the  bonds,  another  act  was  passed  author 
izing  the  creation  of  National  Banks.  By  it,  banking  associa 
tions  could  be  formed  by  any  number  of  persons  not  less  than 
five.  Not  less  than  one  third  of  the  capital  of  the  banks  paid 
in  should  be  invested  in  United  States  bonds,  for  which  circu 
lating  notes  to  the  value  of  ninety  per  cent  of  the  current  value 
of  such  bonds  might  be  issued  to  the  banks,  the  government  to 
hold  the  bonds  in  trust,  as  security  for  those  issues,  the  total 
amount  of  the  bank-notes  not  to  exceed  three  hundred  millions; 
and  they  were  made  lawful  money  for  all  purposes  excepting 
custom  duties  and  interest  on  the  public  debt.  The  banks  were 
to  pay  the  government  semi-annually  one  per  cent  on  the  cir 
culating  notes  to  pay  the  expenses  of  making  them. 

Congress  passed  another  act,  commonly  called  the  "  Con 
scription  Act."  By  it,  it  was  provided  that  all  able-bodied 
male  citizens,  and  persons  of  foreign  birth  who  had  declared 
their  intention  of  becoming  citizens,  and  who  had  voted  be 
tween  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty-five,  were  liable  to  be  called 
into  service,  unless  specially  excepted.  The  exceptions  were 
those  who  were  physically  or  mentally  incapable,  a  few  speci 
fied  officers  of  the  National  and  State  Governments,  and  the 
following  classes  of  persons:  the  only  son  of  a  widow  or  of 
aged  or  infirm  parents,  dependent  on  his  labor  for  support ; 
when  there  were  two  or  more  sons  of  aged  or  infirm  parents, 
dependent  upon  them  for  support,  the  father,  or  if  he  be  dead 
the  mother,  might  select  one  who  should  be  exempt;  the  only 
brother  of  children  without  father  or  mother,  under  twelve 
years  of  age,  dependent  upon  him  for  support;  the  father 
of  motherless  children  under  twelve  years  of  age,  dependent 
upon  his  labor  for  support;  where  of  the  same  family  and 
household  a  father  and  one  or  more  sons  in  the  military  service 
of  the  United  States,  two  of  the  same  family  and  household 
are  to  be  exempt.  Those  persons  liable  to  conscription  were 
to  be  divided  into  two  classes ;  the  first  class  comprising  all 
below  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  all  unmarried  persons  be 
tween  thirty-five  and  forty-five  years  of  age.  The  second  class 
comprised  married  persons  between  thirty-five  and  forty-five, 


192  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


and  were  not  to  be  called  into  service  until  the  first  class  had 
been  exhausted.  It  was  also  provided  that  any  person  actually 
drafted  might  be  discharged  from  draft  by  furnishing  an  ac 
ceptable  substitute,  or  by  paying  a  sum  not  exceeding  three 
hundred  dollars,  to  be  fixed  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  The 
entire  population  of  the  loyal  States,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war,  liable  to  enrolment  under  the  Conscription  law,  after 
deducting  all  exemptions,  was  fully  four  millions.  Another 
act  empowered  the  President  to  issue  letters  of  marque  and 
reprisal. 

On  the  15th  of  June,  the  President  issued  a  call  for  one  hun 
dred  thousand  volunteers  to  repel  the  invasion  by  the  Confed 
erates.  On  the  15th  of  October,  the  President  made  a  call  for 
three  hundred  thousand  men,  those  raised  to  be  deducted  from 
the  quotas  set  for  the  next  draft.  The  deficiencies  to  be  made 
.good  by  the  States  by  a  new  draft  to  be  made  on  January  5, 
1864. 

The  President  in  December  accompanied  his  message  to 
Congress  with  a  proclamation  of  amnesty  to  the  Confederates, 
stating  his  purpose  to  be  to  present  the  States  wherein  the 
national  authority  had  been  suspended,  and  loyal  State  Govern 
ments  had  been  subverted,  a  mode  in  and  by  which  the  national 
authority  and  loyal  State  Governments  might  be  reinstated. 
Specified  exceptions  to  the  amnesty  proclamation  were  stated. 

On  the  3d  of  June,  a  "  peace  meeting"  was  held  in  New 
York,  instituted  by  leading  Democrats.  One  of  the  resolutions 
passed,  declared  it  was  recommended  by  the  meeting,  that 
there  should  be  a  suspension  of  hostilities  between  the  contend 
ing  armies  of  the  divided  sections  of  the  country,  and  that  a 
convention  of  the  States  composing  the  Confederate  States,  and 
a  separate  convention  of  the  loyal  States,  be  held  to  finally 
settle  and  determine  in  what  manner  and  by  what  mode  the 
contending  sections  should  be  reconciled. 

A  serious  riot  broke  out  in  New  York  on  the  morning  of  the 
13th  of  July.  At  the  outset  it  was  a  demonstration  against  the 
draft,  which  was  then  in  progress  in  the  ninth  district,  inhab 
ited  mainly  by  laborers,  a  great  proportion  of  whom  were  of 
foreign  birth.  They  had  been  wrought  to  exasperation  against 
the  clause  in  the  bill  which  allowed  a  person  whose  name  was 
drawn  to  purchase  exemption  by  the  payment  of  three  hundred 
dollars.  When  the  drawing  commenced  on  the  13th,  a  sudden 
attack  was  made  by  an  armed  mob  upon  the  office.  The 
wheel  was  destroyed,  the  lists  scattered,  and  the  building  set 
on  fire.  The  excitement  spread  throughout  the  city,  crowds 
gathered  everywhere,  with  no  apparent  object ;  but  during 
the  day  the  movement  seemed  to  be  controlled  by  leaders  in 
two  general  directions.  The  first  was  an  attack  upon  the 
negroes;  the  second  an  assault  upon  every  one  who  was  sup 
posed  to  be-in  any  way  concerned  in  the  draft,  or  prominently 
identified  with  the  Republican  party.  The  militia  regiments 
who  had  always  been  relied  upon  to  uphold  public  order  in 
case  of  emergency,  had  been  sent  to  Pennsylvania  to  withstand 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  193 

the  Confederate  invasion;  and  the  only  guardians  left  for  the 
public  peace  were  the  regular  police  and  a  few  hundred  sol 
diers  who  garrisoned  the  forts.  These  were  too  few  to  protect 
the  dozen  miles  between  the  extremities  of  the  city.  The  mob, 
dispersed  in  one  quarter,  would  reassemble  at  another,  and  for 
four  days  the  city  seemed  given  up  to  their  control.  The  out 
rages  committed  during  this  time  were  numerous  and  aggra 
vated.  Negroes  were  assaulted,  beaten  to  death,  mutilated,  and 
hanged;  building  after  building  was  sacked  and  burned;  gangs 
of  desperadoes  patrolled  the  streets,  levying  contributions,  and 
ordering  places  of  business  to  be  closed.  A  Colored  Orphan 
Asylum,  sheltering  some  hundreds  of  children,  was  sacked  and 
burned.  After  the  first  day,  the  riot,  which  was  at  first  directed 
against  the  draft,  took  a  new  turn.  The  entire  mass  of 
scoundrelism  in  the  city  seemed  to  have  been  let  loose  for  in 
discriminate  plunder.  Women,  half-grown  boys,  and  children 
were  foremost  in  the  work  of  robbery,  and  no  man  felt  safe 
from  attack.  Gradually  the  bands  of  rioters  were  dispersed, 
and  the  peace  of  the  city  was  restored.  Fully  a  hundred  per 
sons  were  killed,  and  property  to  an  immense  amount  was 
destroyed. 

Arizona  and  Idaho  were  organized  under  Territorial  govern 
ments. 

The  free  letter-carrier  system  went  into  effect  in  July. 

Five  Russian  vessels  of  war  arrived  at  the  harbor  of  New 
York,  the  first  which  ever  visited  our  ports.  The  officers,  on 
the  1st  of  October,  were  publicly  welcomed  by  the  city 
authorities. 

The  price  of  Middling  Uplands  cotton  in  the  New  York 
market,  on  the  1st  of  January,  was  sixty-seven  cents  ;  on  the 
1st  of  April,  seventy-two  to  seventy -four  cents  ;  on  the  1st  of 
July,  seventy-three  to  seventy-four  cents  ;  and  on  the  1st  of 
October,  eighty- one  to  eighty- three  cents  per  pound. 

The  market  price  of  gold  on  the  1st  of  January  was  133f  to 
133|;  on  the  1st  of  April,  156£  to  156f  ;  on  the  1st  of  July, 
144|  to  144f  ;  and  on  the  1st  of  October,  140|  to  142f . 
1864  Banks,  with  Porter's  gun-boats  co-operating,  went  up  Red 
River,  in  Louisiana,  early  this  year.  He  took  Natchitoches 
March  19th,  but  was  defeated  at  Mansfield  April  8th,  and 
Pleasant  Hill  the  9th.  He  then  abandoned  the  campaign. 
General  Canby  succeeded  him  in  command.  From  Vicksburg 
Sherman  sent  out  one  force  into  Eastern  Mississippi  to  cut  rail 
roads  and  burn  cotton,  in  February  ;  and  General  A.  J.  Smith 
led  another  thither  from  Tennessee.  -Forrest  made  an  incur 
sion  into  Kentucky  from  the  South,  unsuccessfully  attacking 
Paducah  in  March,  withdrawing  to  Tennessee,  taking  Fort 
Pillow  by  storm,  slaughtering  the  garrison,  half  negroes,  and 
then  retreating. 

Second  in  importance  only  to  the  advance  on  Richmond, 
and  first,  perhaps,  in  practical  results  this  year,  was  the  work 
accomplished  by  William  Tecumseh  Sherman.  When,  in 
March,  Grant  was  transferred  to  the  supreme  command  of  the 


194  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Union  armies,  the  hero  of  Missionary  Ridge  was  promoted  from 
his  charge  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  to  that  of  the  division 
of  the  Central  Mississippi,  which  now  included  not  only  his  old 
command  and  the  armies  of  the  Cumberland  and  the  Ohio,  but 
also  that  of  the  Arkansas.  Sherman  was  in  Memphis  at  this 
time.  He  went  East  to  confer  with  the  lieutenant-general  about 
their  future  operations,  and  then  proceeded  to  Chattanooga  to 
lay  out  his  work.  He  began  his  march  southward  early  in  May, 
with  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  men;  this  number  diminished 
through  casualties,  and  the  posting  of  forces  to  guard  his  line  of 
communications.  Johnston,  in  his  front  with  Hardee's,  Hood's, 
and  Folk's  corps,  mustered  between  fifty  thousand  and  sixty 
thousand  at  the  outset,  but  increased  those  figures  somewhat  as 
he  fell  back.  Bragg  after  his  defeat  the  previous  November, 
had  been  retired  from  command  in  Georgia.  Atlanta,  an  im 
portant  railroad  centre  in  the  heart  of  that  State,  and  the  site 
of  valuable  manufactories  and  machine-shops,  was  Sherman's 
objective  point.  In  his  advance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  or  more  he  had  several  severe  engagements.  There 
was  considerable  fighting  before  Dalton  May  7th,  but  by 
a  flank  movement  the  retirement  of  Johnston  was  forced  three 
or  four  days  later.  On  the  15th  a  lively  contest  occurred 
near  Resaca,  to  which  the  Confederates  had  withdrawn. 
They  were  finally  driven  from  the  town,  and  the  Union 
advance  entered  next  day.  Manoeuvring  and  fighting  near 
Dallas  occupied  the  next  fortnight,  at  the  end  of  which  John 
ston  was  again  forced,  by  being  flanked,  to  retreat.  The  next 
stand  was  made  near  Kenesaw  Mountain  and  its  neighbors,  Lost 
and  Pine  mountains,  twenty  miles  from  Atlanta.  The  Confed 
erates  had  here  a  strong  position.  Sherman  crowded  them 
from  the  14th  to  the  27th  of  June.  On  the  first  day,  Polk,  the 
Louisiana  bishop  and  general,  was  killed  by  a  cannon-ball 
while  making  observations  with  Johnston  and  Hardee.  On 
the  last,  Sherman  made  an  attack,  which  was  repulsed  with 
much  slaughter.  He  now  resorted  to  his  favorite  tactics.  A 
flanking  column  was  thrown  onward  to  the  Chattahoochee  next 
day,  and  at  nightfall  it  compelled  an  evacuation  of  the  much- 
contested  Kenesaw.  Johnston  held  the  stream  until  July  10th, 
and  then  withdrew  inside  his  formidable  intrenchments  around 
Atlanta.  He  was  here  deprived  of  his  command  for  a  time  by 
Jefferson  Davia,  who  did  not  esteem  him  as  highly  as  others 
did  ;  and  Hood  was  assigned  to  the  defence  of  the  Gate  City. 
While  the  Union  troops  were  making  another  advance,  on  the 
30th,  they  were  repulsed,  and  General  McPherson,  commanding 
one  of  Sherman's  corps,  was  killed.  General  John  A.  Logan 
succeeded  to  the  command.  Sherman  again  tried  to  force  the 
enemy  on  the  22d,  and  met  with  another  hard  blow,  though 
before  night  he  had  changed  his  defeat  into  victory.  His  loss, 
however,  was  nearly  four  thousand,  while  Hood  suffered  to  an 
even  greater  extent.  Raids  for  the  destruction  of  railroads  were 
now  planned  and  executed  by  Sherman.  A  cavalry  expedition  to 
Macon,  with  a  view  to  liberate  Union  prisoners  at  Andersonville, 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  195 

was  also  undertaken  by  Stoneman,  but  with  disastrous  results. 
On  the  27th  a  flanking  force  was  pushed  forward  on  the  Union 
right,  under  Howard,  now  commanding  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee.  Logan's  corps  caught  the  worst  of  the  sudden 
charge  with  which  Hood  retaliated.  Again  and  again  the  Con 
federates  came  up,  but  they  were  mown  down  murderously.  At 
length,  after  a  loss  estimated  at  five  thousand,  Hood  ceased  to 
strike,  and  Howard  held  his  ground.  Nearly  a  month  later, 
after  various  cavalry  raids,  Sherman  broke  camp  in  front  of 
Atlanta,  moved  rapidly  around  by  the  westward  to  the  south 
of  the  city.  On  the  last  night  of  August,  the  Confederates 
blew  up  their  magazines,  burned  their  stores,  destroyed  their 
machine-shops  and  foundries,  and  abandoned  the  place  to 
Sherman.  During  the  next  few  weeks,  by  aggressive  raids  to 
the  northward,  Hood  threatened  most  of  the  Union  posts  all  the 
way  up  to  Resaca,  but  Sherman  reinforced  and  saved  them. 
He  would  not,  however,  allow  himself  to  be  drawn  out  of  the 
State.  Hood  at  length  withdrew  into  Northern  Alabama. 

Mobile  was  a  point  of  great  interest  this  season.  The  city  is 
at  the  head  of  a  bay  thirty  miles  or  more  long  and  from  ten  to 
twenty  miles  wide.  Long  sand-bars  nearly  close  the  entrance, 
with  an  opening  between  them  not  more  than  two  miles  across. 
This  was  guarded  by  Fort  Gaines  on  the  west  and  Fort  Morgan 
on  the  right.  Before  this  gateway  Admiral  Farragut,  who  had 
conducted  the  conquest  of  New  Orleans  two  years  before, 
appeared  on  August  4th.  He  had  a  fleet  of  fourteen  men-of- 
war,  besides  four  iron-clads.  The  wooden  vessels  were  fastened 
together  in  couples,  and  Farragut  was  lashed  to  the  masthead 
of  the  flag-ship  Hartford  more  easily  to  superintend  the  action. 
Next  day  the  fleet  ran  the  gauntlet  of  the  forts,  and  encounter 
ed  the  fire  of  several  Confederate  vessels  inside  the  bay,  return 
ing  the  attack  with  great  spirit.  The  engagement  was  furious, 
and  the  air  was  filled  with  cannon-balls.  One  Federal  iron-clad, 
the  Tecumseh,  was  sunk  by  a  torpedo  ;  but  a  rebel  gun-boat  was 
driven  ashore,  and  another  put  to  flight  up  the  bay.  The  rebel 
ram  Tennessee,  however,  proved  a  formidable  antagonist,  and 
only  after  several  wooden  vessels  had  damaged  themselves  by 
butting  her,  and  the  iron-clads  had  come  to  the  rescue,  was  she 
forced  to  surrender.  Farragut  now  devoted  himself  to  the 
land  forces.  On  the  9th  he  compelled  Fort  Gaines  to  surrender, 
and  on  the  22d  Fort  Morgan  followed.  No  attempt  was  made 
at  this  time  to  capture  the  city  of  Mobile,  although  Sherman 
had  hoped  it  would  be  done,  and  a.  supporting  column  thrown 
out  to  co-operate  with  him  in  Georgia.  But  an  important  port 
into  which  blockade-runners  were  bringing  supplies  was 
effectually  closed  up,  and  Farragut  added  to  his  laurels. 

In  November,  Sherman  began  his  famous  "  March  to  the  Sea," 
a  movement  of  singular  boldness.  Having  sent  his  sick  back 
to  Chattanooga,  and  reinforced  Thomas  at  Nashville,  he  de 
stroyed  the  remaining  ironworks  in  Atlanta,  tore  up  all  the 
neighboring  railroads,  cut  the  telegraph-wire  which  had  taken 
his  messages  to  Washington,  and,  on  the  14th,  started  southeast- 


196  HISTORY    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ward.  He  formed  two  columns,  under  Generals  Howard  and 
Blair,  with  cavalry  out  on  the  wings,  and  advanced  without 
meeting  much  resistance.  He  rendered  all  railroads  useless, 
and  subsisted  on  the  country  through  which  he  passed.  By 
spreading  out  over  a  broad  region,  he  concealed  his  strength 
and  position,  and  misled  the  enemy  as  to  his  plans.  No  great 
concentration  against  him  was  therefore  practicable.  Finally, 
on  December  10th,  he  reached  the  rear  of  Savannah.  Already 
Union  troops  held  Fort  Pulaski,  at  the  mouth  of  Savannah 
River.  The  town  was  now  in  peril,  and  on  the  20th  Hardee 
abandoned  it  and  moved  up  to  Charleston.  Sherman  took 
possession  two  days  later.  This  result  of  the  mysterious  and 
risky  disappearance  from  Atlanta  awakened  great  enthusiasm 
in  the  North. 

As  had  been  anticipated,  Hood,  in  Northern  Alabama,  or 
ganized  a  campaign  against  Nashville  even  before  Sherman 
started  for  the  sea.  But  Thomas  was  amply  warned  and  well 
supported.  Sherman  had  perfect  confidence  in  his  lieutenant, 
and  this  was  justified  by  the  event.  Hood,  first  crushing 
Schofield  at  Franklin,  advanced  to  tbe  capital  of  Tennessee. 
Here,  falling  upon  him  December  15th,  Thomas  routed  him 
completely,  taking  twenty -five  thousand  prisoners.  Bragg, 
with  a  mere  handful  of  men,  escaped  to  Alabama. 

Grant  was  made  lieutenant-general  March  2d,  and  placed  in 
command  of  all  the  Union  armies.  Having  laid  out  Sherman's 
campaign,  as  nearly  as  he  could  in  advance,  he  took  the  offen 
sive  himself  in  Virginia  in  May.  Accompanying  Meade's  vet 
erans  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  he  advanced  from  Culpepper 
on  the  3d.  Just  south  of  the  Rapidan,  in  the  Wilderness,  not 
far  from  the  battlefield  of  Chancellorsville,  he  met  Lee  on  the 
5th,  and  for  three  days,  with  stubborn  energy  and  awful 
slaughter,  he  fought  the  Confederates  there,  but  could  not  drive 
them  from  their  intrenchments.  Not  discouraged  by  their  re 
sistance,  nor  by  any  possible  criticism  of  his  sacrifice  of  life,  he 
declared  that  he  meant  to  "  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  took  all 
summer."  He  now  moved  to  the  left,  and,  beginning  again  on 
the  9th,  he  renewed  the  attack  at  Spottsylvania  Court-House, 
fighting  for  four  days.  Here  Hancock  took  four  thousand 
prisoners  one  day.  Advancing  further  to  the  left,  Grant  re 
newed  the  struggle  at  Cold  Harbor,  June  1st,  and  continued  it 
three  days.  Up  to  date  he  had  lost  sixty  thousand  men,  and 
Lee  thirty-five  thousand.  Unable  to  turn  Lee's  flank  and  get 
at  Richmond  from  the  north,  he  decided  to  push  on  and  attack 
from  the  south.  At  Bermuda  Hundred,  June  15th,  he  joined 
Butler,  who,  with  the  Army  of  the  James,  had  pushed  up 
from  Fortress  Monroe,  and  approached  Petersburg.  Lee  came 
to  its  defence  before  a  severe  blow  had  been  struck.  Sheridan's 
cavalry  carefully  examined  the  whole  Confederate  line  from 
north  of  Richmond  to  south  of  Petersburg  to  find  a  weak  spot 
without  avail.  Near  the  latter  town,  July  30,  under  a  Confed 
erate  fort,  a  mine  was  exploded,  and  colored  troops  were  then 
pushed  into  the  gap  to  break  the  line,  but  without  success. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  197 

Warren  was  sent  out  on  the  Weldon  road  to  cut  Southern  con 
nections,  and  some  other  minor  blows  were  struck,  without 
much  result.  Meade's  and  Butler's  losses  in  this  campaign 
were  one  hundred  thousand.  Lee  was  too  much  occupied  to 
make  another  northward  movement. 

The  Shenandoah  Valley  was  the  scene  of  more  contests  dur 
ing  the  wrhole  war,  perhaps,  than  any  other  region  of  its  size  ; 
and  some  of  the  most  brilliant  exploits  of  the  opposing  forces 
there  were  performed  this  year.  Early,  the  daring  and  skilful 
Confederate  commander  there,  defeated  first  Sigel  and  then 
Hunter  in  May  and  June,  and  then  made  a  bold  raid  on  Wash 
ington.  He  had  no  such  force  at  his  command  as  that  which 
McClellan  turned  back  from  Antietam  in  1862,  or  Meade  re 
pulsed  at  Gettysburg  the  following  summer ;  but  it  was  a 
startling  movement,  nevertheless.  It  came  early  in  July,  just 
after  Grant  had  forced  Lee  down  near  Richmond,  and  when 
few  troops  were  left  near  the  Federal  capital.  Early's  advance 
came  within  seven  miles  of  the  latter  city.  Checked  at 
Monocacy,  on  the  9th,  by  Lew  Wallace,  he  was  subsequently 
driven  back  into  Virginia  by  Wright's  corps,  which  oppor 
tunely  arrived.  To  put  an  end  to  this  distracting  business,  Grant 
sent  Sheridan,  whom  he  had  come  to  value  highly  after  the 
latter 's  service  in  the  Chattanooga  campaign,  to  take  command 
in  the  valley.  The  bold  young  commander  quietly  waited,  a 
little  south  of  Harper's  Ferry,  until  he  got  word  from  his  su 
perior  officer  to  "  Go  in  I"  A  vigorous  attack  was  made  on 
Early  at  Winchester,  September  19th,  and,  after  a  hard-fought 
battle,  in  which  the  cavalry  gave  material  help,  Sheridan  forced 
the  enemy  through  and  out  of  the  town,  and  chased  him  up 
the  valley.  Resistance  was  again  encountered  and  overcome  ; 
and  the  Union  advance  did  not  stop  until  Harrisonburg  was 
reached.  To  preclude  any  more  trouble  from  a  Confeder 
ate  force  in  the  valley,  Sheridan  now  destroyed  the  means 
of  subsistence.  The  autumn  crops  were  harvested,  and  these 
were  destroyed  along  the  whole  line  where  they  could  not 
be  carried  off.  Then  Sheridan  fell  back,  and,  leaving  his 
army  intrenched  at  Cedar  Creek,  ran  up  to  Washington  to  con 
fer  with  the  authorities.  Early  had  followed  the  invaders 
down  the  valley,  however,  and  discovered  their  commander's 
absence.  This  chance  was  improved  with  a  well-planned  at 
tack.  The  Union  soldiers  were  surprised  in  their  camps  before 
'breakfast,  October  19th,  by  a  flank  movement,  and  the  left 
and  centre  of  their  line  driven  in.  General  Wright,  ranking 
officer,  whose  corps  was  on  the  right,  stayed  the  retreat  two  or 
three  miles  back,  and  tried  to  reorganize  the  shattered  army. 
Meantime  Sheridan  was  on  his  way  back  from  Washington. 
He  had  slept  in  Winchester  over-night,  twenty  miles  away.  One 
of  the  first  sounds  that  greeted  his  ears  as  he  started  on  his  south 
ward  way  in  the  morning  was  artillery,  and  he  quickly  divined 
that  a  battle  was  in  progress.  Alert  and  fiery,  he  put  spurs  to 
Ms  steed,  and  rode  furiously  on.  In  an  hour  or  two  he  began 
to  meet  the  fugitives  always  to  be  seen  in  the  rear  of  such  a 


198  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


battle  as  Cedar  Creek,  and,  his  zeal  and  anxiety  increasing,  he 
urged  his  horse  to  the  top  of  its  speed.  The  outlook  at  the 
front  was  gloomy  enough  when  the  Union  commander  came 
up.  On  the  way  he  had  reproved  and  encouraged  the  fright 
ened  stragglers,  and  persuaded  many  of  them  to  return.  But 
when  he  finally  dashed  on  to  the  hesitating,  imperfectly-restored 
line  which  Wright  had  formed,  a  wonderful  change  came  over 
his  command.  He  was  a  man  of  such  magnetism  and  so  idol 
ized  by  his  men  that,  as  he  rode  down  past  them,  shouting  that 
he  was  going  to  take  them  back  to  their  abandoned  camps  that 
night,  his  own  enthusiasm  and  courage  was  imparted  to  the 
whole  army.  Long  after  noon,  the  formation  beinj  at  last  com 
pleted,  he  began  his  advance.  Back  to  Cedar  Creek  the  Union 
line  now  swept,  carrying  everything  before  it,  and  working 
wrorse  disaster  upon  the  apparently  victorious  Confederates  than 
they  had  accomplished  in  the  morning.  So  badly  demoralized 
was  Early's  army  by  this  defeat  that  it  never  again  tried  to 
reoccupy  the  valley.  "  Sheridan's  Ride,"  that  so  brilliantly 
turned  the  tide  of  battle  on  this  occasion,  has  been  celebrated  in 
a  well-known  poem. 

The  most  destructive  of  the  rebel  cruisers,  several  of  which 
were  built  in  British  ports,  was  the  Alabama.  She  captured 
sixty-six  prizes,  worth  $10,000,000,  in  her  short  career.  Ra 
phael  Semmes  commanded  her.  She  encountered  the  Union 
frigate  Kearsarge,  Captain  Winslow,  near  Cherbourg,  France, 
June  19th,  and  was  sent  to  the  bottom.  Her  officers  and  crew 
were  picked  up  by  the  friendly  English  yacht  Deerhound, 
which  came  out  to  see  the  fight.  Another  Confederate  cruiser, 
the  Florida,  was  taken  at  Bahia,  Brazil,  by  the  Wachusett, 
Captain  Collins. 

A  daring  and  useful  feat  was  performed  by  a  boat's  crew 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  Gushing  of  the  Navy,  October  27th. 
The  rebel  ram  Albemarle,  in  the  sound  of  that  name,  had  been 
making  destructive  raids  upon  Union  shipping  down  on  the 
coast,  and  it  was  a  formidable  obstacle  to  any  invasion  of  that 
region.  Approaching  stealthily,  by  night,  Lieutenant  Gushing 
planted  a  huge  torpedo  under  her,  and  blew  her  up. 

Congress,  in  February,  passed  an  act  modifying  the  existing 
Enrolment  bill  in  some  particulars.  It  authorized  the  Presi 
dent  to  call  for  as  many  men  into  service  as  the  necessity  might 
require,  and  drafts  to  be  ordered  if  the  quotas  were  not  filled. 
Substitutes  might  be  furnished  by  those  enrolled ;  all  persons 
under  forty-five  to  be  enrolled  ;  drafted  persons  could  furnish 
substitutes  ;  commuters  exempted  only  from  the  special  draft ; 
all  male  persons  of  African  descent,  between  twenty  and  forty- 
five,  whether  citizens  or  not,  to  be  enrolled  ;  and  colored  troops 
not  to  be  assigned  as  State  troops,  but  to  be  mustered  into  regi 
ments  or  companies  as  United  States  volunteers. 

Congress,  in  March,  passed  an  act  establishing  a  Bureau  of 
Freedmen's  Affairs.  By  it  all  questions  relating  to  persons  of 
African  descent  were  to  be  determined,  with  authority  to  make 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  199' 

regulations  for  their  employment  and  treatment  on  abandoned 
plantations. 

Congress  passed  a  bill  reviving  the  grade  of  lieutenant-gen 
eral,  which  was  approved  by  the  President,  who  at  once  ap 
pointed  General  Grant  to  the  position,  and,  on  the  9th  of  March, 
gave  him,  in  person,  his  commission.  Subsequently,  the  Presi 
dent  approved  a  bill  creating  the  rank  of  vice-admiral,  of  equal 
grade  with  that  of  lieutenant-general  in  the  army.  Admiral 
Farragut  was  given  the  position. 

Authority  was  given  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  issue 
bonds  not  exceeding  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  payable 
in  five  or  forty  years  in  coin,  and  bearing  interest  not  exceeding 
six  per  cent,  payable  in  coin.  Subsequently,  another  bill 'was 
passed  authorizing  the  issue  of  four  hundred  millions  of  bonds 
of  like  tenor;  or,  in  lieu  of  an  equal  amount  of  bonds,  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  might  issue  two  hundred  millions  in 
Treasury  notes,  in  denomination  of  not  less  than  ten  dollars, 
payable  in  three  years,  and  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven 
and  three  tenths  per  cent  per  annum,  payable  "in  lawful 
money,"  and  to  be  a  legal  tender  to  the  same  extent  as  United 
States  notes. 

An  act  was  approved  by  the  President,  on  the  3d  of  June, 
amending  the  National  Bank  Act,  by  which  the  entire  issue  of 
notes  for  circulation  under  the  act  was  confined  to  three  hun 
dred  millions ;  the  banks  to  be  allowed  to  charge  seven  per 
cent  interest  on  loans;  and  no  bank  established  under  the  act 
to  have  a  capital  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and, 
if  located  in  a  city  of  more  than  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  not 
less  than  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Acts  of  Congress,  passed  in  the  years 
1793  and  1850,  were  repealed  by  act  of  Congress  approved  by 
the  President  on  the  28th  of  June. 

A  new  Tariff  Act  went  into  effect  on  the  4th  of  July.  Among 
the  articles  specified,  teas  were  to  be  charged  a  duty  of  25 
cents  per  pound;  sugar,  according  to  grade,  3  to  5  cents;  bran 
dies,  $2. 50  per  gallon;  other  spirits,  $2  per  gallon;  champagnes, 
not  less  than  $6  a  dozen  for  quarts;  spirituous  liquors  not  enu 
merated,  100  per  cent  upon  the  value;  ales,  porter,  and  beer  in 
bottles,  35  cents;  not  bottled,  20  cents  per  gallon;  cigars,  from 
75  cents  to  $3  per  pound,  besides  from  20  to  60  per  cent,  ad  va 
lorem;  tobacco,  35  to  50  cents  per  pound;  iron,  various  rates, 
but  none  less  than  33  per  cent  on  the  value;  coal,  from  40  to 
125  cents  a  ton;  lead,  on  an  average,  2  cents  a  pound;  gems, 
unset,  10  per  cent;  wools,  from  3  to  10  cents,  according  to 
grade,  with  10  per  cent  additional  ad  valorem;  woollen  goods, 
various  specified  rates,  none  less  than  50  per  cent  on  the  value, 
and  many  more  than  this;  cotton,  2  cents  per  pound;  cotton 
manufactures,  from  5  to  7^  cents  per  square  yard,  besides 
from  10  to  35  per  cent  ad  valorem;  linens,  35  to  40  per  cent; 
silk,  25  to  40  per  cent;  silk  goods,  generally,  60  per  cent;  china 
and  earthenware,  40  to  45  per  cent;  books,  25  per  cent;  fancy 


200  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

soaps,  10  cents  a  pound,  and  25  per  cent  ad  valorem;  and  plain 
soaps  1  cent  a  pound  and  30  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

An  Internal  Revenue  Law  was  passed,  imposing  licenses 
upon  every  trade  and  profession,  varying  from  the  presumed 
amount  of  business;  discrimination  being  made  against  liquor- 
dealers,  shows,  lotteries,  gift  enterprises,  and  the  like.  Ev 
ery  person  whose  profession  was  not  specially  enumerated 
was  to  pay  a  license  of  ten  dollars  if  his  business  should  bring 
an  income  of  one  thousand  dollars.  Every  possible  legal  docu 
ment,  to  be  valid,  was  required  to  be  stamped;  all  patent  medi 
cines  and  similar  preparations  were  made  subject  to  excise,  the 
general  principle  being  to  impose  one  cent  for  every  twenty-five 
cents  of  the  price  of  the  article;  almost  every  article  of  manu 
facture  was  noted  with  a  special  tax,  amounting  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  five  per  cent  on  the  value;  railroads,  express  com 
panies,  and  similar  branches  of  business,  to  pay  from  two  to 
five  per  cent  of  their  gross  receipts,  and  a  special  tax  was  im 
posed  upon  many  articles  of  show  and  luxury. 

An  act  was  passed  guaranteeing  to  certain  States,  whose  gov 
ernments  had  been  overthrown  or  usurped,  a  republican  form 
of  government,  and  authorizing  the  President  to  appoint  a  Pro 
visional  Governor  for  such  States  until  a  regular  State  Govern 
ment  should  be  established. 

On  the  1st  of  February,  the  President  ordered  a  draft  of  five 
hundred  thousand  men,  to  begin  on  the  10th  of  March,  to  serve 
for  three  years  or  the  war.  On  the  15th  of  March,  he  made  a 
call  for  two  hundred  thousand  volunteers;  on  the  18th  of  July, 
for  five  hundred  thousand  more;  and  on  the  20th  of  December, 
for  three  hundred  thousand. 

The  Territory  of  Montana  was  authorized  to  be  organized, 
and  Nevada  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  State. 

On  the  19th  of  October,  the  town  of  St.  Albans,  in  Vermont, 
about  fifteen  miles  from  the  Canadian  frontier,  was  subjected 
to  a  raid,  accompanied  by  bloodshed,  by  armed  Confederates 
entering  the  State  from  Canada.  They  overpowered  the  em 
ployes  of  three  banks,  seized  over  two  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars  in  money,  and,  stealing  all  the  horses  they  could  in  the 
streets  and  livery -stables,  escaped  into  Canada. 

The  city  of  Detroit  was  thrown  into  great  excitement,  on  the 
30th  of  October,  by  a  report  that  a  raid  on  the  city  was  to  be 
made  during  the  night  by  armed  parties  of  the  enemy  from 
Canada.  Soldiers  were  called  out;  artillery  was  brought  from 
the  barracks  and  posted  in  the  streets;  the  steam  fire-engines 
were  made  ready  for  sudden  use,  and  the  depots  and  public 
buildings  guarded.  No  enemy,  however,  appeared. 

The  money- order  system  01  the  post-office  department  went 
into  operation  in  November.  The  postal-car  service — the  as 
sorting  of  mail -matter  while  in  transit— commenced  on  the 
Iowa  division  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad,  on 
the  28th  of  August.  It  next  went  into  operation  between  New 
York  and  "Washington,  and  subsequently  on  other  prominent 
railroad  routes. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  201 

Street-railway  cars  commenced  running  for  the  first  time  in 
the  cities  of  Indianapolis  and  Lowell. 

The  "Colt  Armory,"  at  Hartford,  was  partially  destroyed 
by  fire  on  the  8th  of  February,  destroying  property  valued  at  a 
million  of  dollars,  and  throwing  about  nine  hundred  men  out 
of  employment.  On  the  night  of  the  22d  of  December,  the 
steamship  North  America,  which  left  New  Orleans  on  the  16th, 
sunk  at  sea.  Of  those  on  board,  nearly  two  hundred  persons 
were  lost,  most  of  whom  were  sick  soldiers. 

At  the  presidential  election  held  in  November,  the  Republi 
can  candidates  were  Abraham  Lincoln,  for  re-election  as  Presi 
dent,  and  Andrew  Johnson  for  Vice-Prcsident,  and  they  were 
elected,  receiving  the  electoral  votes  of  twTenty-two  States,  two 
hundred  and  thirteen  in  all.  The  Democratic  party  nominated 
General  George  B.  McClellan  for  President,  and  George  H. 
Pendleton  for  Vice-President,  and  secured  the  electoral  votes 
of  the  States  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky,  only 
twenty- one  in  all.  The  platform  adopted  by  the  Democratic 
party,  with  other  less  important  resolutions,  declared,  "  That 
this  Convention  does  explicitly  declare,  as  the  sense  of  the 
American  people,  that  after  four  years  of  failure  to  restore  the 
Union  by  the  experiment  of  war,  during  which,  under  the  pre 
tence  of  a  military  necessity  or  war  power  higher  than  the 
Constitution,  the  Constitution  itself  has  been  disregarded  in 
every  part,  and  public  liberty  and  private  right  alike  trodden 
down,  and  the  material  prosperity  of  the  country  essentially 
impaired,  justice,  humanity,  liberty,  and  the  public  welfare 
demand  that  immediate  efforts  be  made  for  a  cessation  of  hos 
tilities,  with  a  view  to  an  ultimate  convention  of  all  the  States, 
or  other  peaceable  means,  to  the  end  that,  at  the  earliest  practi 
cable  moment,  peace  may  be  restored  on  the  basis  of  the  federal 
union  of  all  the  States."  The  platform  of  the  Republican 
party  resolved  that  the  rebellion  should  be  suppressed  without 
compromise,  and  that  slavery  should  be  abolished  by  Constitu 
tional  amendment. 

On  the  18th  of  May,  the  Journal  of  Commerce  and  the  World, 
New  York  City  newspapers,  were  suppressed  by  order  of  the 
President,  and  their  editors  directed  to  be  arrested.  A  forged 
proclamation,  purporting  to  be  issued  by  the  President,  calling 
for  half  a  million  more  troops,  was  distributed  to  all  the 
city  papers  the  night  before,  and  was  published  in  these 
two  only,  its  character  having  been  suspected.  The  ar 
rest  of  the  editors  was  subsequently  vacated  by  the  Presi 
dent's  order.  The  forgers  were  discovered  and  imprisoned. 

Several  attempts  to  fire  the  city  of  New  York  caused  great 
excitement,  in  the  belief  that  they  were  made  by  the  Confede 
rates,  and  an  order  was  issued  that  all  persons  residing  in  the 
city  should  register  themselves  or  be  treated  as  spies.  One  per 
son  was  arrested  for  setting  fire  to  several  hotels;  he  confessed 
his  crime,  and  was  executed. 

The  New  York  quotations  of  gold  were,  on  the  1st  of  Janu- 


202  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ary,  152;  on  the  1st  of  April,  166^;  on  the  1st  of  July,  245;  and 
on  the  1st  of  October,  19H  to  193^. 

The  market  price  of  Middling  Uplands  cotton  in  New  York, 
on  the  1st  of  January  of  this  year,  was  81  to  82  cents;  on  the 
1st  of  April,  76  cents;  on  the  1st  of  July,  150  to  152;  and  on 
the  1st  of  October,  115  to  120  cents. 

1865  Abraham  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  President,  for  a  second 
term  of  office,  on  the  4th  of  March,  and  Andrew  Johnson  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  Vice-President. 

The  military  operations,  early  in  the  year,  brought  the  war 
to  a  speedy  conclusion.  Grant  began  operations  late  in  the 
winter.  With  the  idea  of  cutting  Lee  off  completely,  he  pro 
posed  that  Sheridan  should  push  southward  from  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley  to  Lynchburg,  in  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  con 
nect  with  the  Union  lines  extending  westward,  south  of  Peters 
burg.  In  February  this  was  undertaken.  Sheridan  advanced 
with  such  rapidity  as  to  annihilate  Early's  force  at  Waynes- 
boro,  and  the  Confederate  commander  barely  escaped  in  person. 
Lee  was  too  well  prepared,  however,  for  the  consummation  of 
Sheridan's  plan,  and  the  proposed  junction  west  of  Petersburg 
could  not  be  effected.  The  Army  of  the  Shenandoah  was 
therefore  brought  around,  north  of  Richmond,  in  March,  to 
assist  the  armies  of  the  Potomac  and  the  James  in  their  opera 
tions,  not,  however,  until  he  had  destroyed  manufactories, 
stores,  and  bridges  at  Charlottesville  and  the  vicinity.  Lee  did 
not  wait  for  Grant  to  begin,  but  himself  assumed  the  offensive 
early  in  the  spring.  One  of  the  principal  Union  works  east  of 
Petersburg,  Fort  Steedman,  was  suddenly  charged  by  an  in 
fantry  force,  commanded  by  General  Gordon,  March  25th,  and 
taken  without  much  resistance.  The  captors  turned  the  guns, 
which  were  now  in  their  hands,  upon  Fort  Haskell,  and  upon 
the  latter  another  charge  was  made.  A  cut  in  Grant's  line  was 
imminent.  The  demonstration  promised  to  call  to  this  point 
Union  troops  that  were  threatening  Lee's  right  and  rear,  south 
of  Petersburg,  and  thus  enable  the  Confederate  commander  to 
regain  the  Weldon  road  which  Meade  had  seized  in  the  winter. 
But  the  assault  on  Fort  Haskell  failed,  and  two  thousand  of 
the  assailants  were  captured.  Meade  improved  this  chance  to 
make  an  attack  himself,  off  to  the  Union  left,  and  gained  some 
ground  that  day.  Warren  and  Humphreys,  each  with  a  corps, 
were  sent  out  to  the  southwest  of  Petersburg,  with  Sheridan 
and  his  ten  thousand  cavalry  still  further  to  the  south,  to  turn 
Lee's  right,  if  possible.  The  possibility  of  the  Confederate 
army  withdrawing  into  North  Carolina  and  helping  Johnston 
deliver  a  crushing  blow  to  Sherman  was  perceived  by  Grant, 
who  also  realized  that  Lee's  supplies  must  come  from  that 
quarter.  Hence  this  movement.  Warren  encountered  consid 
erable  opposition  March  29th,  but  advanced  beyond  Hatcher's 
Run.  Sheridan  sent  out  a  force  next  day  from  Dinwiddie  to 
Five  Forks;  where  Lee's  right  was  strongly  intrenched.  No 
attempt  to  drive  it  in  was  made,  however.  On  the  31st  Lee 
tried  to  crowd  Warren  back,  but  without  success.  Sheridan 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  203 

meantime  took  Five  Forks.  From  this  position  his  cavalry 
were  driven,  however,  before  night.  Next  morning  Sheridan 
advanced  again  from  Dinwiddie  to  Five  Forks,  regaining  his 
lost  ground.  The  final  stroke  there  was  not  delivered  until 
nightfall,  when  Warren's  troops,  which  were  put  at  Sheridan's 
disposal,  were  hurled  against  the  enemy  in  a  fearful  charge. 
Over  five  thousand  prisoners  were  taken,  and  Lee's  right  wing 
was  badly  damaged.  That  very  night  Grant's  artillery  before 
Petersburg  began  a  terrific  bombardment  of  the  town;  and  the 
slowly  closing  grasp  of  the  besieging  army  was  contracted  still 
further  next  day  by  a  series  of  vigorous  charges.  Wright, 
Parke,  Humphreys,  and  Ord  drove  the  stubborn  Confederates 
from  their  intrench  ments  at  several  points,  while  Sheridan 
crowded  in  a  little  more  to  the  southwest.  When  night  fell, 
Lee's  lines  were  broken  in  three  places,  and  Petersburg  was  at 
Grant's  mercy.  The  next  day,  April  3d,  was  Sunday.  Jefferson 
Davis  sat  in  his  pew  in  church  when,  at  11  A.M.,  a  messenger 
brought  him  a  dispatch  from  Lee,  revealing  the  situation. 
The  downfall  of  Petersburg,  now  practically  assured,  meant 
the  downfall  of  Richmond.  Acting  on  this  intelligence,  Mr. 
Davis  and  the  leading  officers  of  the  Confederacy  prepared  for 
rapid  departure,  which  was  effected  that  night  south  westward 
by  the  Danville  Railroad.  Great  confusion  prevailed  in  the 
Confederate  capital,  where  the  utmost  effort  was  made  by  those 
who  could  to  escape  and  remove  their  worldly  goods.  That 
night  the  few  troops  left  there  were  withdrawn,  and  the  city 
set  on  fire  at  several  points.  General  Weitzel,  commanding  the 
Union  troops  in  front  of  the  city,  suspected  what  was  taking 
place  from  the  sound  of  explosions  and  from  the  distant  lights. 
Captured  rebel  pickets  and  deserters  revealed  the  truth  before 
dawn,  and  by  6  A.M.  Weitzel  rode  into  Richmond,  over  which 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  soon  floating.  A  few  days  later 
President  Lincoln  came  down  there  in  person  for  a  brief  visit, 
and  then  returned  to  his  tragic  fate  in  Washington.  Peters 
burg  was  also  evacuated,  silently,  on  the  2d  of  April,  and 
on  the  3d  was  occupied  by  the  forces  immediately  in  its 
front.  But  Grant  was  massing  off  to  the  southwestward,  with 
Griffin's  (formerly  Warren's)  corps  at  Sutherland's,  ten  miles 
west  of  the  town,  and  Sheridan  ten  miles  further  in  the  same 
direction.  Lee,  forced  out  of  his  splendid  earthworks,  with  a 
starving,  much  disjointed  army,  was  now  trying  to  save  his 
men  by  pushing  westward  or  southward.  If  he  could,  he 
wanted  to  go  down  the  Danville  road  toward  North  Carolina, 
or  at  best  move  westward  along  the  Appommattox  River. 
Awaiting  supplies,  he  concentrated  at  Amelia  Court-House, 
while  Sheridan,  pushing  on,  seized  the  Danville  road  at  Jeters- 
ville,  where  nearly  the  whole  Union  army  was  gathered  on  the 
6th.  The  previous  night  Lee  had  pushed  on  to  the  westward, 
trying  to  find  a  point  where  he  could  get  down  to  the  south 
ward;  but  Sheridan  outstripped  him,  and  two  or  three  wagon 
trains  and  some  prisoners  were  taken.  Swell's  corps  was  cut 
off  from  the  Confederate  army  and  captured  after  a  plucky  re- 


204  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

sistance,  and  Ewell  and  four  other  generals  were  taken.  Re 
duced  by  starvation,  as  well  as  strategy  and  superior  force,  Lee 
was  now  virtually  overcome.  Grant  demanded  his  surrender, 
on  the  7th,  to  avoid  further  bloodshed,  and  Sheridan  empha 
sized  it  by  capturing  valuable  supply-trains  coming  to  Lee's 
relief,  and  then  swinging  around  in  Lee's  front  at  Appomattox 
Court- House.  This  was  the  final  stroke.  Next  day  Lee  re 
plied  to  Grant  by  proposing  a  conference  on  the  9th.  This  was 
held  underneath  an  apple-tree,  and  the  surrender  was  there  ar 
ranged.  Lee  and  his  officers  were  to  retain  their  swords,  and 
the  Confederate  soldiers  were  to  keep  their  horses.  "  You  will 
need  them  for  your  spring  ploughing,"  Grant  said.  And  the 
vanquished  army  was  allowed  to  disperse  and  go  home,  unmo 
lested  so  long  as  its  men  refrained  from  further  hostility  to  the 
Federal  government. 

General  Terry  led  an  expedition,  in  January,  against  Fort 
Fisher,  near  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  and  carried  the  work  by  storm 
the  15th.  General  Butler  had  tried  it  in  the  preceding  month, 
and  failed.  Fugitive  Confederates  now  blew  up  their  cruisers 
Tallahassee  and  Chickamauga,  to  prevent  their  capture.  Both 
were  British  built,  less  than  a  year  old,  and  had  ravaged  the  ship 
ping  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  Chickamauga  destroyed  thirty- 
three  vessels  during  her  short  career,  causing  a  loss  of  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  The  blockading  fleet,  during  this  winter,  as- 
through  previous  years,  had  been  vigilant  and  successful  at  the 
rapidly  diminishing  number  of  Confederate  ports,  and  had  made 
numerous  valuable  captures.  During  the  war  no  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  blockade-runners,  inward-bound,  laden  with 
arms,  ammunition,  clothing,  railroad  iron,  and  other  useful 
products  for  the  conduct  of  the  Confederate  campaigns,  or  out 
ward-bound,  with  cargoes  of  cotton  worth  nearly  or  quite  a 
dollar  a  pound,  were  caught,  and  sent  North  to  be  sold.  A 
large  share  of  the  proceeds  went  as  prize-money  to  the  captors. 
Most  of  the  commerce  thus  broken  up  was  with  England,  and 
the  losses  fell  largely  on  the  people  of  that  country. 

Sherman  started  northward  from  Savannah  in  February. 
He  occupied  Columbia,  S.  C.,  the  17th.  The  town  was  de 
stroyed  that  night  by  fire,  started,  it  was  said,  by  smouldering 
tufts  blown  about  from  cotton  which  Wade  Hampton  burned 
on  evacuating.  Hardee  evacuated  Charleston  the  same  day, 
and  on  the  18th  the  Union  forces  in  the  harbor  occupied  it.  As 
Sherman  advanced,  Union  troops  from  Wilmington,  Newberne, 
and  other  points  near  the  coast,  joined  him.  A  Union  cavalry 
raid  from  Eastern  Tennessee  into  North  Carolina,  by  Stone- 
man,  also  facilitated  his  progress.  After  meeting  occasional 
resistance  from  Johnston,  he  occupied  Kaleigh,  April  13th. 
Negotiations  for  surrender  were  begun,  but  delayed  by  con 
sideration  of  civil  as  well  as  military  matters.  The  former 
were  finally  ruled  out,  and  the  last  Confederate  army  laid  down 
its  arms  April  26th. 

Jefferson  Davis,  President  of  the  Confederacy,  was  taken 
prisoner  while  fleeing  through  Georgia,  in  May,  and  sent  to 


HISTORY    CP    THE    UNITED    STATES.  205 

Fortress  Monroe  for  confinement,  where  he  remained  as  prisoner 
two  years,  when  he  was  released  on  bail.  In  1868  he  was  in 
cluded  in  the  general  amnesty. 

The  leading  event  of  the  year,  taking  precedence  of  all  others, 
even  military,  was  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  by  J. 
Wilkes  Booth,  an  actor  by  profession,  on  the  evening  of  the 
14th  of  April,  at  Ford's  Theatre  in  Washington.  Mr.  Lincoln,  ac 
companied  by  his  wife,  Major  Rathbone,  and  Miss  Morris,  oc 
cupied  a  box  at  the  theatre,  that  evening.  The  door  of  the  box 
opened  inward,  and  was  approached  by  a  narrow  passage.  The 
box  was  about  twelve  feet  above  the  stage,  looking  directly 
upon  it.  Booth,  being  well  known  in  the  theatre,  had  free  ac 
cess  to  all  parts  of  the  building  at  any  hour,  and  was  perfectly 
acquainted  with  all  its  arrangements  and  the  ways  of  entrance 
and  exit.  His  arrangements  were  carefully  made:  a  small  hole 
had  been  bored  in  the  door  opening  from  the  passage  into  the 
box,  through  which  could  be  had  a  complete  view  of  the  ul 
terior  of  the  box.  Outside  of  the  theatre,  near  the  private  en 
trance  to  the  stage,  he  had  a  horse  in  waiting,  and  close  by  was 
an  accomplice,  mounted,  and  ready  to  accompany  him  after  his 
escape  from  the  theatre.  Abouthalf-past  nine,  Booth  silently,  and 
unperceived  by  the  occupants,  entered  the  box  and  fastened  the 
door  behind  him.  At  this  time,  as  Booth  knew,  the  action  of  the 
piece  required  the  stage  to  be  vacant  for  a  moment.  All  eyes  were 
turned  to  the  stage,  waiting  for  the  entrance  of  the  next  actor. 
At  that  instant  the  report  of  a  pistol  was  heard,  and  Rathbone 
turning  saw  through  the  smoke  a  man  between  the  door  and 
the  President.  He  sprang  up  and  grappled  him;  but  the  man 
making  a  thrust  with  a  large  knife  and  inflicting  a  severe  wound 
wrested  himself  away  and  rushed  to  the  front  of  the  box. 
Rathbone  endeavored  to  seize  him  again,  but  only  caught  hold 
of  his  clothes  as  he  leaped  over  the  railing  upon  the  stage.  His 
spur  caught  in  the  folds  of  a  flag,  and  was  torn  off,  and  he  fell 
nearly  prostrate,  receiving  a  severe  injury.  Not  withstanding  this, 
he  sprung  to  his  feet,  brandished  his  knife,  shouted  "  Sic  semper 
tyrannis,"  and  rushed  through  the  coulisses,  by  passages  well 
known  to  him,  to  the  rear  exit  of  the  stage,  before  the  specta- 
tators  were  aware  of  what  had  occurred.  The  man,  however, 
was  identified  as  Booth  by  several  actors  who  saw  him  on  the 
stage.  The  interval  between  the  shot  and  the  leap  of  Booth  to 
the  stage  was  hardly  thirty  seconds.  The  ball  entered  just  be 
hind  the  President's  left  ear,  driving  fragments  of  bone  before 
it,  and  lodged  in  the  brain.  The  President  was  carried  to  a 
private  house  opposite  the  theatre.  He  was  unconscious  from 
the  moment  of  the  shot,  and  died  early  the  next  morning.  Just 
about  the  time  when  the  President  was  assassinated,  a  man 
presented  himself  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Seward,  the  Secretary 
of  State,  who  was  lying  in  his  bedroom  in  a  critical  state  from 
injuries  received  from  having  been  thrown  from  his  carriage. 
Pushing  abruptly  past  the  servant,  who  hesitated  to  admit 
him,  the  man  made  his  way  toward  the  sick-room.  Before 
reaching  the  room  the  slight  disturbance  had  aroused  several 


206  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

persons  in  the  house.  Foremost  of  these  was  a  son  of  the  Sec 
retary.  He  received  a  blow  from  a  heavy  pistol,  which  frac 
tured  his  skull  and  left  him  insensible.  The  man  then  reached 
the  door  of  Mr.  Seward's  room.  Within  were  a  daughter  of 
the  Secretary,  and  George  Robinson,  a  soldier,  who  was  attend 
ing  the  invalid.  Robinson,  hearing  the  disturbance,  opened  the 
door  and  received  a  passing  stab  from  the  assassin,  who  rushed 
to  the  bedside  of  Mr.  Seward  and  endeavored  to  strike  him  with 
a  knife.  Robinson  grappled  with  him,  and  a  severe  struggle  en 
sued.  The  assailant,  a  very  powerful  man,  seemed  bent  upon 
reaching  Mr.  Seward.  He  succeeded  in  striking  him  slightly 
two  or  three  times;  but  the  wounded  man  managed  to  roll  from 
the  bed  to  the  floor.  The  struggle  had  now  aroused  the  house; 
and  the  assassin  broke  away,  rushed  downstairs,  mounted  a 
horse  at  the  door,  and  made  his  escape.  The  whole  detective 
force  of  the  government  was  at  once  called  into  requisition 
to  arrest  the  assassins.  Various  circumstances  led  to  the  belief 
that  the  assailant  of  Mr.  Seward  was  John  Surratt,  whose 
mother,  a  resident  of  Washington,  had  made  her  house  a  ren 
dezvous  for  disloyalists.  Her  house  was  seized.  Before  day 
light  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  a  man  dressed  as  a  laborer  came 
to  the  door  and  was  arrested.  He  said  his  name  was  Payne; 
that  he  was  a  common  laborer,  born  in  Virginia,  and  had  been 
engaged  to  repair  a  gutter  of  the  house.  His  statements  were 
unsatisfactory  and  contradictory.  He  was  found  to  be  in  dis 
guise,  his  light  hair  dyed  black.  He  was  in  the  end  fully  iden 
tified  as  the  man  who  attacked  Mr.  Seward.  Meanwhile  the 
energies  of  the  government  wrere  directed  to  the  arrest  of 
Booth.  It  was  discovered  that  he  rode  some  thirty  miles  into 
a  part  of  Maryland  where  the  inhabitants  were  notoriously  dis 
loyal.  His  wounded  leg  was  dressed  by  a  physician,  who  fur 
nished  him  with  a  crutch.  Crippled  as  he  was,  Booth  worked 
his  way  for  ten  days,  hiding  in  swamps  by  the  way,  and  more 
than  once  narrowly  escaping  discovery,  accompanied  all  the 
while  by  a  companion  named  Hen-old.  The  pair  at  length 
got  across  the  Potomac  into  Virginia.  By  means  of  infor 
mation  volunteered  by  blacks,  and  extorted  from  whites,  the 
fugitives  were  traced  to  a  house  near  Bowling  Green.  The 
pursuers,  twenty-seven  in  number,  were  led  by  Colonel  Con 
ger.  Among  them  was  Boston  Corbitt,  a  sergeant  in  the  cav 
alry.  Booth  and  Herrold  were  hidden  in  a  barn.  They  were' 
called  upon  to  surrender.  A  long  parley  ensued,  for  the  pur 
suers  wished  to  take  the  fugitives  alive.  Herrold  gave  himself 
up  and  came  out;  Booth  refused;  fire  was  set  to  the  dry  straw 
in  the  barn.  Booth,  brought  to  bay,  wished  to  sell  his  life  dear 
ly.  Leaning  on  his  crutch,  he  was  in  the  act  of  aiming  at  one 
of  his  pursuers,  when  his  fire  wras  anticipated  by  a  pistol-shot 
from  Corbitt,  who  had  watched  his  movements  through  an 
opening  in  the  boarding.  Booth  died  after  suffering  intensely 
for  four  hours.  The  murder  of  the  President  aroused  a  feeling 
of  regret  deeper  than  was  ever  before  known  in  our  history. 
Men  and  papers  who  had  opposed  his  policy  and  vilified  him 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  207 

personally,  now  vied  with  bis  adherents  in  lauding  the  rare 
wisdom  and  goodness  which  marked  his  conduct  and  character. 
It  was  decided  that  his  body  should  be  interred  at  his  home,  in 
Springfield,  111.  The  long  journey  was  one  great  funeral  pro 
cession,  lasting  from  the  21st  of  April,  when  the  embalmed 
body  left  Washington,  till  the  4th  of  May,  when  it  was  entombed 
at  Springfield.  The  ceremonies  at  New  York,  on  the  25th  of 
April,  were  by  far  the  most  imposing  ever  known  in  that  city. 
It  was  estimated  that  sixty  thousand  people  marched  in  the  pro 
cession.  By  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Andrew  Johnson,  elected 
as  Vice-President,  became  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
taking  the  oath  of  office  on  the  15th  of  April.  Of  those  found 
upon  trial  as  having  been  the  accomplices  of  Booth,  and  abet 
tors  in  his  escape,  four  were  hung  on  the  7th  of  July,  three  were 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for  life,  and  one  for 
six  years. 

An  act  was  passed  by  Congress  chartering  the  Freedmen's 
Savings  and  Trust  Company  at  Washington.  The  last  war- 
loan  of  $600,000,000,  to  be  exempt  from  taxation,  was  author 
ized  in  March,  just  before  Lee's  surrender. 

The  civil  war  being  ended  in  April,  measures  were  necessary 
to  brin£  the  seceded  States  back  into  their  proper  relation  with 
the  Union,  and  protect  the  emancipated  colored  people  therein 
from  possible  violence.  President  Johnson  framed  a  plan  of 
Reconstruction,  which  resembled  that  which  Lincoln  had  con 
templated.  It  wras  to  appoint  provisional  governors  in  the 
Southern  States,  who  were  to  call  conventions  of  the  people, 
which  in  turn  were  to  order  elections  of  complete  State  govern 
ments.  The  conventions  were  required  to  declare  the  acts  of 
secession  null  and  void;  to  declare  slavery  forever  abolished;  to 
repudiate  the  State  debts  incurred  in  aid  of  the  rebellion,  and 
to  provide  that  the  State  officers  elected  should  be  safe  and 
loyal  men.  If  the  reorganization  failed,  troops  were  to  be  on 
hand  in  every  State  to  maintain  order  and  authority.  To  aid 
this  plan,  April  29th,  the  President  by  proclamation  opened 
the  Southern  ports  to  trade,  except  in  arms,  uniforms,  and  rail 
road  and  telegraph  material,  these  restrictions  being  all  re 
moved  subsequently.  May  29th,  a  proclamation  was  issued 
granting  "  amnesty  and  pardon,  with  restoration  of  all  rights  of 
property,  except  as  to  slaves"  and  lawful  confiscations,  to  all 
the  Southern  people,  except  to  specified  classes  of  the  leaders 
and  officials  of  the  rebellion.  In  May,  June,  and  July  the 
provisional  governors  were  appointed,  except  in  Tennessee, 
Louisiana,  Virginia,  and  Arkansas,  where  the  existing  State 
governments  were  accepted  as  satisfactory.  The  plan  of  reor 
ganization  as  outlined  above  was  carried  out  at  once,  and  be 
fore  the  end  of  the  year  State  governments  wrere  in  operation 
in  every  State.  In  a  few  months'  time  the  social  and  commer 
cial  relations  of  the  South  with  the  rest  of  the  country  were 
thus  re-established.  The  political  conventions  of  both  the  Re 
publican  and  Democratic  parties  in  the  North  this  year  ap 
proved  this  plan.  Some  Republicans,  however,  were  dissatis- 


208  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED   STATES. 

fied  with  it,  deeming  that  it  inadequately  guaranteed  protec 
tion  to  the  freedmen. 

A  resolution  submitted  by  Congress  to  the  several  States  for 
approval  in  March,  as  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  abol 
ishing  slavery  in  the  United  States,  was  ratified  by  three  fourths 
as  required,  and  went  into  effect  in  December.  The  proposed 
amendment  was  rejected  by  Delaware,  Kentucky,  and  New 
Jersey. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year  negroes  were  excluded  from 
voting  in  all  the  States,  excepting  Maine,  Vermont,  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode  Island.  In  Massachu 
setts,  all  voters,  white  or  black,  were  required  to  be  able  to 
read  and  write  their  names.  In  Rhode  Island  the  ballot  was 
only  given  to  every  male  citizen,  white  or  black,  who  owned 
real  estate  worth  one  hundred  and  thirty- four  dollars,  or  rent  of 
seven  dollars  a  year,  or,  if  a  native  of  the  State,  who  paid  an 
annual  tax  of  one  dollar.  Proposed  amendments  to  the  con 
stitutions  of  the  States  of  Connecticut,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota, 
and  Colorado,  by  which  the  right  to  vote  would  be  given  to 
negroes,  were  voted  upon  in  the  fall  by  conventions  of  the  peo 
ple  of  those  States,  and  were  rejected  in  all. 

The  total  debt  of  the  United  States  on  the  31st  of  October 
was  $2,804,549,437.50.  The  circulation  outstanding  was  $704,- 
000,000,  of  which  a  little  over  $428,000,000  were  in  green 
backs,  $185,000,000  in  national-bank  notes,  $65,000,000  in 
State-bank  notes,  and  the  remainder  was  in  fractional  cur 
rency. 

Another  attempt  to  lay  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Cable  was 
made  in  July,  and  was  unsuccessful.  The  cable,  stored  on  the 
mammoth  steamship  Great  Eastern,  left  Valencia  Bay  on  the 
23d,  the  heavy  shore-end  twenty-six  miles  long  having  been 
successfully  laid  on  the  preceding  day,  and  spliced  to  the 
cable  on  board  the  steamer.  On  the  2d  of  August,  when  the 
steamer  was  ten  hundred  and  sixty -two  miles  from  Valencia, 
and  thirteen  hundred  and  twelve  miles  of  cable  had  been 
paid  out,  the  cable  chafed  against  the  projecting  rims  of  the 
hawse-holes,  and  finally  broke,  the  end  flying  overboard,  and 
in  a  few  moments  was  lost  in  the  ocean.  About  one  half  "the 
entire  length  of  the  cable  was  overboard.  Still  it  was  hoped 
that  it  might  be  recovered,  although  the  depth  of  water  was 
twenty-five  hundred  fathoms.  The  Great  Eastern  steamed 
back  a  dozen  miles  and  threw  over  a  grapple  attached  to  a 
wire-rope,  capable  of  supporting  a  strain  of  ten  tons;  and  the 
vessel  steamed  back  and  forth  across  the  line  in  wThich  the 
cable  must  lie.  At  4  A.M.  on  the  3d  of  August,  it  was  evident 
that  the  grapple  had  caught  the  cable,  and  the  rope  was  hauled 
in.  The  strain  of  course  increased  with  every  foot  of  the  ca 
ble  that  was  raised.  In  six  hours  eleven  hundred  and  fifty 
fathoms  had  been  brought  on  board,  when  the  rope  parted, 
and  cable  and  grapple  and  rope  sunk  again  to  the  bottom. 
But  the  experiment  showed  that  it  was  possible  to  fish  up  the 
cable  from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  During  the  next  four 


HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  209 

days  the  weather  was  unfavorable,  and  nothing  was  accom 
plished.  Just  before  noon  of  the  7th  another  grapple  was 
flung  over,  and  after  dragging  until  six  P.M.  the  cable  was 
again  caught,  and  at  eight  the  hauling  in  was  begun.  The 
next  morning  one  thousand  fathoms  had  been  brought  in  when 
the  rope  broke.  The  9th  and  10th  were  spent  in  unavailing  at 
tempts  to  grapple  the  cable.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  llth,  it 
was  again  caught  by  the  grapple,  which  was  now  attached  to  a 
rope  composed  of  sixteen  hundred  fathoms  of  wire,  the  re 
mainder  of  hemp.  In  three  hours,  when  seven  hundred  and 
sixty  fathoms  had  been  hauled  in,  the  rope  broke,  leaving 
seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  fathoms  overboard.  The  Great 
Eastern,  having  no  more  rope  on  board  for  grappling,  returned 
to  England. 

Wall  Street  in  August  was  startled  by  the  failure  of  one  of 
the  wealthiest  banking-houses  of  New  York,  and  the  discovery 
of  forgeries  to  a  large  amount  committed  by  Edward  B. 
Ketchum,  a  junior  partner  of  the  firm.  In  addition,  securities 
had  been  abstracted  from  the  vaults  to  the  amount  of  three 
millions  of  dollars  or  more.  The  forgeries  were  about  one 
half  that  sum,  and  consisted  of  forged  gold  certificates  pur 
porting  to  be  signed  by  wealthy  houses,  which  were  negotiated 
at  the  banks  as  security  for  loans. 

The  first  sheet-zinc  manufactured  in  the  United  States  was 
made  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  in  March. 

Barnum's  Museum,  at  the  corner  of  Ann  Street  and  Broad 
way,  in  New  York,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  with  the  contents, 
on  the  13th  of  July. 

About  twenty  persons  were  burned  to  death,  and  half  a  mil 
lion  dollars'  worth  of  property  destroyed,  at  a  fire  in  Philadel 
phia  on  the  8th  of  February. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  the  steam-transport  General  Lyon, 
from  Wilmington  for  Fortress  Monroe,  having  on  board  be 
tween  five  and  six  hundred  persons,  caught  fire  when  off  Cape 
Hatteras,  and  was  entirely  consumed,  and  nearly  all  of  those 
on  board  perished. 

The  following  was  the  published  scale  of  prices  for  paper  in 
New  York,  in  January:  For  note-paper,  first-class,  55  to  60 
cents  per  pound;  good,  50  to  55  cents;  common,  45  to  50  cents; 
for  letter  and  foolscap,  five  cents  per  pound  less  than  note- 
paper;  for  news,  rag,  22  to  25  cents;  for  news,  straw,  20  to  22 
cents;  for  manilla  wrapping  paper,  18  to  20  cents. 

The  price  for  Middling  Uplands  cotton  in  the  New  York 
market  on  the  1st  of  January,  of  this  year,  per  pound,  was 
118  to  120  cents;  on  the  1st  of  April,  45  to  48  cents;  on  the  1st 
of  July,  43  cents,  and  on  the  1st  of  October,  45  to  45^  cents. 

The  price  for  gold  per  dollar  was  quoted  in  the  New  York 
market  on  the  1st  of  January,  at  227f  cents;  on  the  1st  of 
April,  154  cents;  on  the  1st  of  July,  136|  to  138  cents,  and  on 
the  1st  of  October,  at  143±  to  144  cents. 

1866     Hostility  to  President  Johnson's  policy  in  relation  to  the 
Southern  States  showed  in  Congress,  and  led  to  the  appointment 


210  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

of  a  Joint  Committee  of  Fifteen  to  consider  Reconstruction  ques 
tions,  soon  after  the  opening  of  Congress  in  December,  1865. 
This  action  was  the  beginning  of  a  disagreement  between  Con 
gress  and  the  President.  At  the  instance  of  this  committee,  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill  on  the  9th  of  April  was  passed,  and  an  act  en 
larging  the  scope  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  These  acts  were 
vetoed  by  the  President,  and  passed  over  his  vetoes  The  Civil 
Rights  Bill  ordained  that  all  persons  born  in  the  United  States, 
and  not  subject  to  any  foreign  power,  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed,  were  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and  such  citizens, 
of  every  race  and  color,  without  regard  to  any  previous  condition 
of  slavery  and  involuntary  service,  except  as  a  punishment 
for  crime,  whereof  the  party  should  have  been  duly  convicted, 
should  have  the  same  right  in  every  State  and  Territory  to  make 
and  enforce  contracts,  to  sue,  to  be  sued,  be  parties  and  give 
evidence,  to  inherit,  purchase,  lease,  sell,  hold,  and  convey  real 
and  personal 
laws  and  pi 
are  enjoyed 

punishment,  pains  and  penalties,  and  to  none  other;  any  law, 
statute,  ordinance,  regulation,  or  custom  to  the  contrary  not 
withstanding.  President  Johnson's  objections  were  that  the 
act  was  inexpedient,  and  that  the  subjects  embraced  in  the 
€numeration  of  rights  contained  in  the  bill,  had  been  considered 
as  belonging  exclusively  to  the  States.  On  the  18th  of  June, 
the  Committee  on  Reconstruction  made  a  long  report  to  Con 
gress,  declaring  that  none  of  the  Southern  States  had  yet  placed 
itself  in  a  position  to  secure  satisfactory  relations  to  the  Union, 
or  representatives  in  Congress,  and  advised  new  legislation.  On 
the  8th  of  July,  Congress  adopted  a  resolution  proposing  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  establishing  the 
citizenship  of  all  natives  of  tLis  country,  imposing  legal  disabili 
ties  on  the  Confederate  leaders,  and  prohibiting  the  payment  of 
the  rebel  debt  or  pensions. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  Congress  passed  an  act  reviving  the 
grade  of  general  in  the  army,  and  creating  the  grades  of  admiral 
and  vice-admiral  in  the  navy.  The  title  of  general  was  bestowed 
upon  Grant,  and  lieutenant-general  upon  Sherman,  while  those 
of  -admiral  and  vice-admiral  were  conferred  upon  Farragut  and 
D.  D.  Porter. 

There  were  two  or  more  expeditions  organized  by  the  Fenians  in 
the  United  States  for  an  invasion  of  Canada  and  New  Brunswick. 
One,  numbering  about  five  hundred  men,  quietly  gathered 
in  April,  at  Eastport,  in  Maine;  with  an  intention  of  making  a 
descent  upon  the  island  of  Campobello,  belonging  to  New 
Brunswick.  After  a  delay  of  several  days,  which  were  spent 
in  holding  meetings  and  parading  the  streets  of  Eastport,  a 
schooner  arrived  from  Portland  with  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
stand  of  arms  from  the  Fenian  sympathizers  in  that  city.  The 
British  consul  at  that  port  complained,  and  the  arms  were 
seized  by  the  United  States  Government.  A  British  war-steamer 
anchored  off  Campobello,  and  troops  were  summoned  to  prevent 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  211 

the  invasion  of  the  Province,  and  a  detachment  of  United  States 
troops  were  sent  from  Portland  to  Calais,  at  which  point  many 
of  the  Fenians  had  congregated.  General  Meade  arrived  on 
the  19th  of  April,  and  assumed  the  command  of  the  United 
States  troops.  A  few  days  later,  the  Fenians,  discouraged  at 
the  lack  of  support  from  their  friends  in  New  York,  abandoned 
the  enterprise  and  returned  home.  On  the  19th  of  May,  twelve 
hundred  stand  of  arms  were  seized  by  the  United  States  author 
ities,  at  Rouse's  Point,  in  New  York,  near  the  Canadian  frontier. 
On  the  30th  of  the  same  month,  the  Fenians,  coming  from  dif 
ferent  parts  of  the  country,  assembled  in  secret  convention  at 
Buffalo.  On  the  same  day,  twelve  hundred  stand  of  arms  were 
seized  at  St.  Albans  by  the  United  States  authorities.  Canada 
was  thoroughly  aroused  at  the  prospect  of  an  invasion,  and 
companies  of  troops  were  moving  to  the  threatened  points.  On 
the  1st  of  June,  a  force  of  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  Fenians 
crossed  the  Niagara  River  at  Buffalo,  in  canal-boats,  and  took 
possession  of  Fort  Erie,  an  old  work  then  unoccupied.  On  the 
3d,  a  skirmish  occurred  between  some  Fenians  and  Canadian 
volunteers,  in  which  some  of  the  latter  were  reported  killed  and 
a  large  number  wounded.  On  the  night  of  the  same  day,  the 
Fenians  being  without  supplies,  artillery,  or  reinforcements,  at 
tempted  to  retreat  into  the  United  States,  but  they  were  inter 
cepted  by  a  United  States  gun-boat,  and  about  seven  hundred  of 
their  number  arrested.  General  Barry,  then  in  command  of 
the  United  States  forces  in  that  vicinity,  accepted  a  parole 
from  over  thirteen  hundred  of  the  Fenians,  who  promised  to 
abandon  the  enterprise.  The  officers  were  relieved  by  giving 
bail  that  they  would  appear  when  required  for  trial  for  an  in 
fraction  of  the  neutrality  laws.  Fenians,  however,  continued 
to  arrive  from  various  parts  of  the  country,  but  were  ordered 
home  by  their  commanding  officers.  Simultaneously  with  the 
movement  from  Buffalo,  Fenians  were  reported  to  be  assem 
bling  on  the  border  in  Vermont,  and  Malone,  N.  Y.,  and  General 
Meade,  commanding  the  United  States  troops,  proceeded  to 
Ogdensburg  to  commence  operations  for  preventing  the  invasion. 
On  the  7th  of  June,  the  Fenians,  numbering  over  one  thousand, 
crossed  the  frontier  and  took  possession  of  St.  Armand,  which 
had  been  evacuated  by  the  Canadians.  On  the  same  day  one 
of  the  chief  officers  of  the  Fenian  organization  in  the  United 
States  was  arrested  at  St.  Albans,  Vt.,  another  at  New  York, 
and  several  other  leaders  at  Buffalo.  On  the  9th, 'upon  the  ad 
vance  of  the  Canadian  troops  at  St.  Armand,  the  Fenians  re 
tired  and  recrossed  the  frontier.  General  Meade  arrested  large 
numbers  of  the  Fenians,  accepted  their  parole,  and  provided 
them  means  of  transportation,  for  all  who  required  it,  to  their 
homes. 

A  severe  hail-storm  passed  over  Baltimore,  on  the  night  of 
May  1st.  Many  of  the  hailstones  measured  from  three  to  four 
inches  in  circumference.  The  destruction  of  window-glass  was 
very  great,  the  amount  being  computed  at  twenty  thousand 
panes.  On  the  southern  and  eastern  sides  of  the  city,  where 


212  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  storm  spent  its  fury,  there  was  hardly  a  window  facing 
north  that  was  not  shattered.  The  churches,  public  buildings, 
and  buildings  with  sky-lights  suffered  severely 

On  the  4th  of  July,  a  conflagration  in  Portland,  Me.,  de 
stroyed  fully  a  third  part  of  the  city,  including  almost  the  en 
tire  business  portion  and  a  great  part  of  the  churches  and  public 
buildings.  Fully  a  quarter  of  the  population  were  rendered 
homeless.  The  entire  loss  was  estimated  at  ten  millions  of  dol 
lars,  endured  by  a  population  of  forty  thousand. 

The  Atlantic  telegraph-cable  was  safely  laid,  and  was  put 
in  successful  operation  in  the  month  of  July.  The  work  was 
begun  on  the  6th  by  landing  the  shore  end  at  Valencia,  in  Ire 
land.  On  the  13th  the  deep-sea  line  was  spliced  to  the  shore 
end,  and  the  Great  Eastern,  with  the  cable  on  board,  accom 
panied  by  three  consorts,  set  out  on  the  voyage.  Not  a  single 
misadventure  occurred,  and  on  the  28th  the  vessels  reached 
Newfoundland.  The  whole  distance  sailed  by  the  fleet  was 
sixteen  hundred  and  eighty -six  nautical  miles,  and  the  length 
of  cable  paid  out  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- six  miles.  The 
rate  of  sailing  wras  singularly  uniform,  the  least  distance  made 
in  a  single  day  being  one  hundred  and  five  miles,  the  greatest 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight. 

The  price  of  Middling  Uplands  cotton  in  the  New  York 
market,  on  the  1st  of  January  this  year,  was  52  to  53  cents;  on 
the  1st  of  April,  40  to  42  cents;  on  the  1st  of  July,  36  to  38 
cents;  and  on  the  1st  of  October,  40  to  42  cents. 

The  price  of  gold  per  dollar,  as  quoted,  in  New  York  on  the 
1st  of  January,  of  this  year,  was  144f  cents;  on  the  1st  of  April, 
127f  to  128i;  on  the  1st  of  July,  151£  to  153|;  and  on  the  1st 
of  October,  145  to  146. 

1867  Congress  passed  several  bills  relative  to  the  elective  franchise 
which  the  President  vetoed,  and  it  then  passed  them  over  his 
veto.  In  March,  it  passed  a  law  declaring  no  legal  govern 
ments  existed  in  the  South,  and  ordering  that  region  to  be 
divided  into  five  military  districts,  with  military  governors,  the 
existing  governments  to  be  deemed  provisional  until  the  States 
were  admitted  to  Congress.  This  bill  was  also  vetoed,  and 
passed  over  the  veto.  On  the  23d  of  March,  a  law  was  passed 
for  a  registration  of  the  votes  of  the  South  under  the  direction 
of  the  military  governors.  The  President  carried  out  these 
laws,  but  came  into  conflict  with  Mr.  Stenton,  Secretary  of 
War,  as  to  details,  and  on  the  5th  of  August  called  for  his  resig 
nation.  It  was  refused  the  same  day.  On  the  12th  of  August 
he  suspended  Stanton  and  appointed  General  Grant  as  Acting 
Secretary,  and  Grant  had  charge  of  the  office  until  the  next 
January,  Early  in  the  next  session  of  Congress  the  impeach 
ment  of  the  President  was  proposed  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  but  was  disagreed  to. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  the  President  proclaimed  amnesty 
to  all  but  a  few  of  the  Southern  officials. 

Jefferson  Davis,  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  was  taken  from 
Fortress  Monroe,  arraigned  for  high-treason,  and  released 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  213 

on  bail.    The  trial  was  set  for  November,  but  postponed  until 
the  following  March.     It  never  came  off. 

By  act  of  Congress,  Nebraska  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as 
a  State. 

On  the  30th  of  March  a  treaty  was  signed  by  the  plenipo 
tentiary  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  and  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  the  ratifications  of  which  by  the  respective  pow 
ers  were  exchanged  on  the  20th  of  June  following,  whereby 
the  tract  of  land  in  America  known  as  Russian  America  was 
ceded  to  the  United  States,  for  the  consideration  of  the  sum  of 
seven  millions  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  formal 
transfer  was  made  on  the  9th  of  October,  General  Rosecrans, 
on  behalf  of  the  United  States  Government,  taking  possession  at 
New  Archangel,  on  the  island  of  Sitka.  The  area  of  this  new 
territory,  which  subsequently  was  named  Alaska,  is  estimated 
at  five  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  with  a  coast-line  greater 
than  that  of  the  United  States  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  first  gold  and  stock  telegraph  company  organized  in 
this  country  was  incorporated  hi  New  York,  on  the  16th  of 
August.  The  purpose  of  the  company  was  the  instantaneous 
and  simultaneous  supply  of  quotations  of  the  sales  of  stocks, 
gold,  and  other  values  made  at  the  Stock,  Gold,  and  other 
Exchanges. 

The  Cincinnati  Suspension  Bridge  across  the  Ohio  River, 
and  connecting  Covington,  Ky.,  with  Cincinnati,  was  com 
pleted  and  opened  for  travel,  this  year.  The  Hudson  River 
Bridge  at  Albany,  forming  a  connecting  link  between  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad  on  the  west  with  the  Boston  and  Al 
bany  on  the  east,  was  completed  and  opened  for  travel. 

In  the  summer  and  autumn  the  yellow-fever  raged  at  New 
Orleans  and  other  places  in  the  Southwest.  About  twenty-five 
hundred  died  from  the  disease  in  that  city.  In  Galveston  and 
throughout  the  coast  portions  of  Texas  it  was  still  more 
severe.  There  were  many  cases  in  Mobile,  Natchez,  Vicks- 
burg,  and  other  towns  on  the  Mississippi  River.  At  Quaran 
tine,  New  York,  there  were  three  hundred  and  ninety  cases, 
of  which  one  hundred  and  twelve  were  fatal. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  the  East  River  between  Brooklyn 
and  New  York  was  bridged  over  with  ice,  and  five  thousand 
persons  crossed,  as  estimated. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  year  the  price  of  news  paper  was 
reduced  to  sixteen  cents  a  pound. 

The  price  of  gold  this  year  ranged  between  133  and  143, 
without  much  fluctuation. 

1868  The  disagreement  between  Congress  and  the  President  in 
creased.  On  the  13th  of  January,  the  Senate  refused  to  concur 
in  Stanton's  suspension.  Grant  promptly  vacated  the  office. 
On  the  21st  of  February  the  President  ordered  Stanton's  re 
moval,  and  directed  Adjutant- General  Thomas  to  take  charge 
as  Secretary  ad  interim.  Stanton  refused  to  vacate,  and  had 
Thomas  temporarily  arrested  on  the  22d.  The  same  day  the 


214  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

House  voted  to  impeach  the  President  for  his  conduct  in  this 
matter.  On  the  2d  and  3d  of  March  the  indictment  was  per 
fected,  and  included  certain  threats  and  speeches  of  the  Presi 
dent  against  Congress.  The  case  came  to  trial  before  the 
Senate,  March  23d,  and  lasted  until  May  26th,  there  being 
thirty-two  days  in  all  of  the  actual  trial.  The  vote  was  thirty- 
five  for  "  Guilty"  and  nineteen  for  "  Not  Guilty,"  but  convic 
tion  was  lost  for  lack  of  a  constitutional  majority.  Therefore 
the  Chief  Justice  entered  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 

In  June,  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Florida,  Alabama,  and  Louisiana  were  admitted  to  representa 
tion  in  Congress,  and  reconstruction  in  their  cases  was  thus 
completed. 

At  the  presidential  election  of  this  year  the  candidates  of  the 
Republican  party  were  General  U.  S.  Grant  for  President, 
and  Schuyler  Colfax  for  Vice-President.  Those  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  were  Horatio  Seymour  for  President,  and  Frank 
P.  Blair  for  Vice-President.  The  platform  adopted  by  the 
Republicans  at  their  national  convention  sustained  the  meas 
ures  of  Congress  and  denounced  those  of  the  President,  while 
that  of  the  Democrats  sustained  the  principles  advocated  by 
the  President  and  opposed  the  measures  of  Congress.  The 
Republican  candidates  received  the  electoral  votes  of  twenty-six 
States,  two  hundred  and  nine  in  all;  the  Democratic,  those  of 
eight  States,  casting  eighty-five  electoral  votes. 

Congress  authorized  the  formation  of  Wyoming  into  a  Terri 
tory,  and  extended  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  Alaska,  and 
formed  that  Territory  into  one  collection-district.  The  Presi 
dent  was  given  power  to  regulate  the  importation  of  arms,  am 
munition,  and  spirits  into  Alaska,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  regulate  the  fur-trade  and  seal-hunting  there. 

The  Secretary  of  State,  on  the  20th  of  July,  officially  an 
nounced  that  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution 
had  been  accepted  by  three  fourths  of  the  States,  thereby  be 
coming  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  25th  of  December,  the  President  issued  a  proclama 
tion  granting  amnesty  to  all,  without  exception,  who  had  par 
ticipated  in  the  late  rebellion. 

A  calamitous  earthquake  occurred  on  the  Pacific  coast  on  the 
21st  of  October.  The  first  shock,  which  was  the  heaviest,  was 
felt  a  little  before  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  San  Fran 
cisco.  The  worst  consequences  were  experienced  on  the  made 
ground  and  the  flats,  where  the  foundations  of  the  buildings 
were  unstable.  Few  structures  in  that  part  of  the  city  escaped 
damage.  In  one  place  the  ground  sunk  for  a  foot  or  two;  in 
another,  the  cobble-stones  in  the  street  sunk  away  from  the  curb 
stone  to  the  depth  of  a  foot,  and  the  asphaltum  sidewalks  were 
twisted  and  torn  out  of  shape.  The  walls  of  the  City  Hall 
were  split,  and  several  stones  in  the  front  wall  fell  out.  Owing 
to  the  shattered  condition  of  the  custom-house,  the  business 
was  removed  to  other  places.  The  post-office  was  also  dam 
aged,  and  many  stores  and  dwellings  were  so  badly  injured 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  215 

that  it  was  found  necessary  to  take  them  down  entirely.  Five 
persons  were  killed  by  falling  chimneys.  In  other  places  in 
California  the  earthquake  was  severely  felt,  lives  were  lost,  and 
much  property  damaged. 

The  Patapsco  River,  in  Maryland,  was  flooded  in  July,  and 
almost  destroyed  Ellicott  City,  causing  considerable  loss  of  life. 
In  Baltimore,  several  streets  were  overflowed,  with  great  dam 
age,  which,  in  and  about  the  city,  was  estimated  at  three  mil 
lions  of  dollars. 

The  most  destructive  fire  that  ever  visited  Chicago,  up  to  this 
period,  occurred  there  on  the  28th  of  January,  burning  one  en 
tire  block,  and  buildings  elsewhere  from  falling  cinders,  with 
a  loss  of  about  three  millions  of  dollars. 

Fort  Lafayette,  in  New  York  harbor,  was  destroyed  by  fire 
on  the  1st  of  December. 

The  bridge  across  the  Mississippi  River  at  Quincy,  111.,  was 
opened  for  travel  on  the  7th  of  November. 

1869  Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  Schuyler  Coif  ax  commenced  their 
terms  of  office  on  the  4th  of  March,  as  President  and  Vice- 
President. 

Congress,  in  February,  adopted  a  resolution  proposing  a  Fif 
teenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  giving  the  colored  peo 
ple  the  elective  franchise. 

The  right  of  suffrage  was  granted  to  women  by  the  legisla 
tures  of  the  Territories  of  Wyoming  and  Utah.  Women  were 
also  ordained  as  deacons  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  hi 
Philadelphia,  and  were  allowed  to  practise  law  in  Kansas  by 
an  act  of  the  legislature. 

Prominent  in  the  annals  of  Wall  Street  were  the  events  which 
occurred  on  Friday,  the  24th  of  September — a  day  which  has 
since  been  designated  as  "Black  Friday."  For  some  time  be 
fore  a  feeling  prevailed  that  speculating  in  gold,  which  had 
been  extensively  engaged  in  throughout  the  war,  was  rapidly 
drawing  to  a  close,  and  that  the  country  would  soon  return  to 
specie  payments.  In  the  spring  of  this  year  gold  fell  to  131,  at 
which  price  a  clique  of  speculators  in  New  York  purchased 
several  millions,  and  then,  inducing  several  newspapers  to  mag 
nify  the  probability  that  difficulties  would  arise  from  the  Ala 
bama  claims,  a  European  war,  the  Cuban  insurrection,  and  vari 
ous  other  matters,  they  pushed  up  the  price  to  145,  and  gathered 
a  rich  harvest.  The  price  again  fell  to  131,  and  there  was  a  gen 
eral  belief  that  it  would  soon  drop  to  120.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  a  conspiracy  was  formed  among  several  speculators  to  con 
trol  an  immense  amount  of  gold,  and  advance  the  price.  The 
financial  policy  of  the  government,  requiring  the  payment  of 
duties  in  gold,  continuously  created  an  imperative  and  legiti 
mate  demand  for  it.  By  the  operations  of  that  clique  the  price 
was  advanced  to  141  by  Wednesday,  the  22d  of  September. 
Stocks,  always  sympathizing  with  a  marked  change  in  the 
value  of  specie,  on  that  day  greatly  fluctuated  in  price,  amidst 
great  excitement  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  causing  more  surprise 
than  the  advance  in  gold.  New  York  Central  fell  twenty-two- 


216  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


per  cent  in  about  as  many  minutes,  and  then  fluctuated  on  a 
range  of  eight  or  ten  per  cent  through  tne  remainder  of  the 
day.  Hudson  River  fell  thirteen  points,  and  other  stocks  sym 
pathized  in  the  fall,  placing  dealers  in  great  straits.  Brokers 
called  on  their  customers  to  increase  their  margins,  which  the 
day  had  wiped  out.  The  money  market  became  very  tight, 
and  high  rates  were  paid  so  that  balances  could  be  carried 
over  until  the  next  day.  When  the  dealings  of  Thursday 
morning  opened  it  was  at  once  made  evident  that  the  clique 
was  in  the  ascendant,  for  gold  continued  to  advance.  The 
margins  that  had  been  increased  with  great  difficulty  the  night 
before  were  again  swept  away,  and  there  was  a  new  call  for 
their  increase.  This  was  beyond  the  power  of  all  but  the 
strongest  operators.  All  the  small  and  medium  speculators 
failed,  or  settled  their  obligations  on  the  best  terms  they  could. 
The  wealthy  dealers  only  defied  the  clique.  This  was  a  day  of 
excitement,  of  rushing,  and  of  alternating  hope  and  fear,  such 
as  had  rarely,  if  ever,  been  witnessed,  even  in  the  times  of  the 
war.  The  day  closed  with  gold  at  144.  On  the  morning  of 
the  eventful  24th,  New  Street,  and  every  passage  leading  to  the 
Gold  Room,  was  completely  blocked  up  by  one  dense  mass  of 
humanity,  all  under  the  greatest  state  of  excitement.  At  the 
opening  of  the  Board  the  price  of  gold  was  150 — an  advance  of 
six  per  cent  on  that  of  the  highest  of  the  day  before.  It  was 
now  well  known  that  the  clique  themselves  held  in  gold  and 
contracts  for  delivery  something  like  one  hundred  and  twenty 
millions,  while  all  the  current  gold  in  New  York  could  be 
scarcely  more  than  twenty  millions.  The  government  alone 
could  break  the  corner  by  the  sale  of  gold  in  the  sub-treasury, 
but  the  deaf  ear  which  had  been  turned  to  appeals  to  Washing 
ton,  if  it  did  not  confirm  the  boast  of  the  clique  that  members 
of  the  government  were  in  league  with  them,  at  least  destroyed 
all  hope  of  relief  from  that  quarter.  At  eleven  o'clock  the 
price  was  155;  at  half-past  eleven  160,  and  then,  162  and  164. 
In  the  midst  of  the  wildest  excitement,  when  the  price  was 
vibrating  at  the  highest  points,  a  messenger  arrived  in  the  Gold 
Room  with  the  news  that  the  government  would  sell  gold,  and 
upon  the  amount  being  known,  the  price  instantly  fell  to  135. 
The  power  of  the  clique  was  at  once  broken,  and  the  most  dar 
ing  plot  ever  known  was  defeated,  and  the  great  crisis  was  at 
an  end;  but  so  large  had  been  the  dealings  that  the  .Gold  Ex 
change  Bank,  which  was  the  agent  to  settle  the  clearings,  had 
not  yet  been  able  to  foot  up  and  settle  the  transactions  of  the 
preceding  day,  so  there  was  still  doubt  and  uncertainty,  and 
the  shadow  of  disaster  continued  to  darken  Wall  Street  and  its 
ramifications.  The  calamity  to  the  business  community  which 
the  clique  had  spread  was  now  felt,  and  so  great  was  the  indig- 
dation  against  its  members  that  they  were  obliged  to  conceal 
themselves  for  safety.  The  most  persistent  efforts  were  made 
to  implicate  the  President  in  their  transactions,  and  Congress 
appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  the  charge,  but  they 
proved  to  be  entirely  without  foundation. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  217 

One  of  the  most,  if  not  the  most,  remarkable  contests  in  rail 
way  strife  known  in  this  or  any  other  country,  took  place 
over  the  possesssion  of  the  Albany  and  Susquehanna  Railroad, 
connecting  Albany  with  the  Erie  at  Binghamton.  After 
seventeen  years  of  desperate  struggle  for  existence,  through  re 
peated  discouragements  and  many  suspensions  of  work  upon 
its  construction,  the  Albany  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  was 
finally  completed  in  January  of  this  year.  It  had  been  pro 
jected  and  built,  as  a  purely  local  enterprise,  to  benefit  the 
towns  through  which  it  ran,  and  for  this  reason  had  received 
some  aid  from  the  State,  and  the  towns  along  the  line  had  sub 
scribed  for  some  of  its  stock  ;  but,  as  soon  as  all  the  difficulties 
were  surmounted,  and  the  road  was  finished,  it  was  found  to 
be  of  greater  value  than  for  local  use.  If  run  in  connection 
with  the  Erie  road,  it  formed  the  necessary  connecting  link  to 
render  that  road  a  rival  of  the  New  York  Central  for  the  through 
business  between  New  England  and  the  West.  It  was  of  still 
greater  value  in  affording  the  anthracite-coal  regions  of  North 
eastern  Pennsylvania  a  more  direct  communication  with  New 
England  and  the  country  north  of  Albany,  and,  as  such,  was 
destined  to  destroy  a  very  profitable  part  of  the  business  of  the 
branch  of  the  Erie  road  running  to  Newburgh.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  the  managers  of  the  Erie  determined  to  secure  the 
control  of  the  Albany  and  Susquehanna,  by  procuring  the  elec 
tion  of  its  officers  among  their  friends  at  the  coming  election- 
day,  in  September.  For  that  purpose,  they  set  out  to  procure 
the  control,  by  purchase  and  otherwise,  of  a  majority  of  the 
stock.  The  president  of  the  Albany  and  Susquehanna  Rail 
road,  Mr.  Ramsey,  together  with  his  friends,  who  were  opposed 
to  the  measures  of  the  Erie  managers,  were  determined  to  resist 
them,  and  retain  the  control  of  the  road  in  their  own  interests. 
On  the  3d  of  August  the  treasurer  refused  to  transfer  some 
stock,  offered  for  that  purpose  by  the  Erie  party,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  illegally  procured.  A  war  of  injunctions  followed, 
the  Erie  party  having  a  pliant  judge  at  New  York  who  issued 
anything  asked  for.  At  length  an  angry  assertion  of  con 
flicting  rights  prevailed  at  the  offices  of  the  company  at  Al 
bany,  and  became  so  serious  that  the  police  had  to  be  called  in 
to  preserve  order.  Opposing  injunctions  still  continued,  and 
rival  receivers  of  the  road  were  appointed.  The  Ramsey  re 
ceiver  held  possession  of  the  Albany  end  of  the  road,  and  the 
Erie  receiver  of  that  at  Binghamton.  An  Erie  superintendent 
was  put  in  charge  at  that  place,  and  a  train  standing  at  the 
station  ready  to  start  was  not  permitted  to  proceed  till  an  Erie 
engine  had  been  substituted,  an  Erie  conductor  placed  in 
charge,  and  an  Erie  sheriff  placed  on  board  to  distribute  Erie 
injunctions  and  writs  of  assistance,  and  replace  all  employes 
by  Erie  sympathizers  wherever  the  train  stopped.  The  doings 
of  the  Erie  men  had  been  telegraphed  to  Albany,  and  the 
Ramsey  party  had  become  fully  roused,  and  determined  on  the 
most  decisive  measures.  The  trains  of  the  two  contending 
parties  were  closely  approaching  each  other,  when  the  Erie 


218  HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

train,  while  nearing  Bainbridge  station,  was  hostilely  switched 
on  to  a  side-track,  and  the  Albany  train  passed  on  the 
main  line  behind  the  other,  stopped,  and  then  made  the  Erie 
party  prisoners.  The  Ramsey  party,  on  the  following  morn 
ing,  started  again  towards  Binghamton.  They  removed  the 
Erie  men  placed  in  charge  of  that  part  of  the  line,  and  restored 
the  former  employes.  All  went  smoothly  till  they  reached  a 
tunnel,  about  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  about  fifteen  miles 
from  Binghamton.  At  this  point  they  received  news  of 
a  new  Erie  train  that  had  come  up  from  Einghamton  with 
several  hundred  men  to  give  them  battle.  The  Erie  party  num 
bered  about  eight  hundred  ;  the  Ramsey  about  half  that  num 
ber.  The  Erie  men  put  together  the  heaviest  train  they  could 
make  up,  filled  it  with  men,  and  started  through  the  tunnel. 
They  found  a  single  rail  removed  by  their  opponents.  This 
was  replaced,  and  once  more  they  moved  forward,  having  now 
a  down  grade.  The  Ramsey  train  moved  too,  and  as  the  Erie 
train  turned  a  sharp  corner,  it  became  suddenly  aware  of  the 
approach  of  their  enemy,  under  full  headway,  with  the  mani 
fest  intention  of  a  collision.  The  collision  happened,  and  the 
shock  and  panic  to  Erie  was  complete.  The  men  leaped  from 
the  train,  and,  without  stopping  to  see  what  had  happened, 
ran  for  the  Binghamton  side  of  the  tunnel  with  their  utmost 
speed,  some  running  through  the  tunnel,  and  others  over  the 
hill  above  it.  They  were  pursued,  with  shouts,  by  the  Ramsey 
men,  who  threw  at  them  sticks,  stones,  and  other  missiles. 
Matters  soon  assumed  such  a  serious  aspect  that  the  civil 
authorities  of  Broome  County  called  upon  the  military  for  as 
sistance,  and  a  regiment  was  sent  to  the  scene  of  the  riot,  and 
soon  the  disturbance  was  quelled.  At  length  the  governor  of 
the  State  was  summoned  from  a  pleasure-excursion  to  effect  the 
safe  running  of  trains,  and  to  adopt  measures  that  the  courts 
had  failed  to  accomplish.  Finding  that  he  could  not  induce 
harmony  between  the  rival  factions,  he  took  possession  of  the 
road  in  the  name  of  the  State,  and  appointed  two  members  of 
his  staff  to  run  it  until  the  difficulties  could  be  settled  judicially. 
The  courts  finally  decided  in  favor  of  the  Ramsey  party,  and 
mulcted  the  Erie  managers  in  a  large  amount,  to  indemnify  the 
road  for  damages. 

The  laying  of  a  submarine  telegraphic  cable  from  Brest, 
(France)  to  the  island  of  St.  Pierre,  near  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law 
rence,  and  thence  to  Duxbury,  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts, 
was  successfully  accomplished  in  July.  The  length  of  the  line 
is  about  3047  miles,  and  was  laid  by  a  company  chartered  by 
the  French  Government. 

The  Union  Pacific  and  the  Central  Pacific  railroads  were 
completed  on  the  10th  of  May,  the  last  rail  being  laid  on  that 
day,  when  a  continuous  line  of  rail  was  formed  across  the  con 
tinent.  On  the  15th  trains  commenced  running  regularly  over 
the  line.  The  construction  of  the  roads  was  commenced  in 
1863,  but  no  considerable  amount  of  work  was  accomplished 
till  1865.  In  that  year  over  one  hundred  miles  were  graded 


HISTOEY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  219 

and  bridged  on  the  Union  Pacific,  and  rails  laid  upon  forty 
miles.  In  1866,  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  miles  of  road  were 
completed  ;  in  1867,  two  hundred  and  forty-five;  and  in  1868, 
three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  The  route  for  the  eastern  por 
tion  of  the  Union  Pacific  is  up  the  valley  of  the  Platte  River, 
which  has  a  course  nearly  due  east  from  the  base  of  the  moun 
tains.  The  slope  of  the  valley  is  very  nearly  uniform  towards 
the  Missouri,  at  the  rate  of  about  ten  feet  to  the  mile.  Cheyenne, 
at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  is  elevated  6063  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  5093  above  Omaha.  From  Cheyenne  to  the  summit 
of  the  mountains,  which  is  eight  thousand  two  hundred  and 
forty-three  feet  above  the  sea,  the  distance  is  thirty- two  miles. 
After  crossing  the  eastern  crest  of  the  mountains,  the  line  tra 
verses  an  elevated  table-land  for  about  four  hundred  miles  to 
the  western  crest  of  the  mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  sea.  Upon 
this  elevated  table -land  is  a  succession  of  extensive  plains, 
which  afforded  great  facilities  for  the  construction  of  the  road. 
The  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company  was  organized  under 
the  general  railroad  law  of  California,  with  authority  to  con 
struct  a  railroad  from  Sacramento  to  the  eastern  boundary  of 
that  State.  By  act  of  Congress,  July  1,  1862,  it  was  author 
ized  to  construct  the  western  portion  of  the  Pacific  Railroad,  in 
the  government  territory,  to  a  junction  with  the  Union  Pacific, 
and  the  same  provision  for  government  aid  was  made  in  its 
favor  as  in  the  case  of  that  road.  The  crossing  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  7050  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  in  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  was 
considered  a  great  achievement  in  civil-engineering.  The  work 
of  construction  was  commenced  in  February,  1863.  The  road 
from  Sacramento  to  Coif  ax  is  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
miles  in  length,  and  was  completed  in  September,  1865.  It 
was  continued  to  Cisco,  ninety-four  miles,  by  November,  1866  ; 
to  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  one  hundred  and  five  miles 
farther,  in  July,  1867 ;  to  the  Nevada  line,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  miles  more,  in  January,  1868  ;  to  Monument  Point, 
six  hundred  and  sixty-seven  miles,  in  April  of  this  year;  and  to 
a  junction  with  the  Union  Pacific,  eight  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  miles  in  all,  on  the  10th  of  May. 

On  the  6th  of  September,  a  disaster  occurred  in  the  Avondale 
coal-mine,  in  Luzerne  County,  Pa.,  resulting  in  the  loss  of  one 
hundred  and  eight  lives.  While  the  miners  were  engaged  at 
work  in  the  mine,  the  shaft,  constructed  chiefly  of  combustible 
material,  took  fire,  and  soon  the  only  entrance  to  the  mine  was 
filled  with  burning  timbers,  fire,  and  smoke.  No  assistance 
could  be  rendered  the  sufferers  from  without,  and,  there  being 
no  means  of  escape,  all  of  the  unfortunate  inmates  perished. 

A  disastrous  flood  occurred  in  portions  of  Texas,  in  July,  in 
consequence  of  heavy  rains  of  three  days'  continuance.  The 
Ouadalupe,  Cormal,  Nevada,  San  Marcos,  and  Colorado  rivers, 
and  Peach  Creek,  rose  to  the  height  of  forty-seven  feet  above 
their  ordinary  level,  which  was  never  before  known.  The 


220  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

lands  on  each  side,  to  the  distance,  in  many  places,  of  ten 
miles  and  more,  were  completely  submerged.,  the  crops  and 
stores  destroyed,  and  not  only  all  the  bridges  and  mills  on  the 
banks  were  swept  away,  but  the  cabins  of  the  negroes  and 
farm-houses  far  inland  were  overturned  and  carried  off.  The 
city  of  San  Antonio  and  the  town  of  La  Grange  suffered 
severely,  and  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  lost.  The  loss  of 
property  was  immense,  the  damage  on  the  Colorado  alone  being 
estimated  at  three  millions  of  dollars. 

1870  Virginia,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  Texas  were  admitted  to 
representation  in  Congress.  On  the  30th  of  March  the  Secretary 
of  State  issued  a  proclamation  announcing  the  ratification  of 
the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution.  Reconstruction, 
in  form,  was  now  finished,  although  further  legislation  to  en 
force  the  new  amendment  and  authorizing  the  use  of  troops  at 
the  polls  followed. 

Congress,  in  May,  passed  a  bill  chartering  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  Company.  In  June,  an  act  was  passed  re 
ducing  the  tax  on  incomes  to  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  and  in 
creasing  the  exemption  to  two  thousand  dollars,  An  act  was 
also  passed  providing  for  the  redemption  of  the  three-per-cent 
loan  certificates,  and  for  an  increase  of  the  national -bank  notes; 
also  a  bill  to  authorize  the  refunding  of  the  national  debt,  at 
lower  rates  of  interest. 

The  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad,  extending  from  Kansas  City, 
Mo.,  to  Denver,  in  Colorado,  was  completed  on  the  15th  of 
August. 

On  the  20th  of  October,  the  shock  of  an  earthquake  was  felt 
in  Northeastern  America,  from  New  Brunswick  to  Iowa,  and 
from  the  river  St.  Lawrence  to  Cincinnati  and  Richmond. 
The  occurrence  was  so  rare  in  that  region  the  phenomenon  ex 
cited  more  than  ordinary  attention ;  in  cities,  where  there  are 
many  tall  buildings,  the  earthquake  was  particularly  notice 
able.  In  New  York,  the  upper  floors  of  some  buildings  were  so 
shaken  that  the  workmen  engaged  in  their  occupations  fled  to  tne 
street  in  alarm;  at  a  public  school  in  Fourteenth  Street,  where 
there  were  twelve  hundred  children,  it  caused  a  panic  among 
them,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  the  teachers  prevented  a  catas 
trophe  in  the  rush  to  the  street.  The  severest  effects  of  the 
earthquake  were  felt  in  Scranton,  Pa. ;  Cooperstown,  Rondout, 
Hudson,  and  Troy,  in  New  York;  Montpelier,  Yt.;  Boston,  and 
New  Haven. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September,  the  valleys  of  the  James  and 
Shenandoah  rivers  in  Virginia,  were  visited  by  a  sudden  and 
disastrous  flood,  such  as  had  not  occurred  before  during  the 
century.  In  less  than  two  days  the  water  in  the  James  River 
rose  about  twenty -four  feet;  a  large  portion  of  the  city  of 
Richmond  was  flooded,  and  great  damage  was  done  to 
property.  The  rise  in  the  Shenandoah  River  was  nearly  twice 
that  of  the  James.  The  destruction  of  property  in  the  counties 
of  Rockingham,  Shenandoah,  Page,  Warren,  Clarke,  and  Jef 
ferson  was  very  great,  including  the  entire  crops  of  corn  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  221 

hay,  with  the  unthreshed  crops  of  wheat,  rye,  and  oats,  along 
the  river  bottoms.  So  sudden  was  the  rise  of  water,  the  people 
in  the  lowlands  had  no  time  to  preserve  their  property.  Dwell 
ings,  mills,  bridges,  fences,  barns,  and  manufacturing  estab 
lishments  were  swept  away,  and  hundreds  of  laborers  were 
deprived  of  employment.  At  Harper's  Ferry  a  large  part  of 
the  town  was  submerged,  many  substantial  buildings  were  de 
stroyed,  and  forty  lives  lost.  The  loss  of  property  by  the  flood 
was  estimated  at  not  less  than  three  millions  of  dollars. 

A  calamity  occurred  at  Richmond,  Va.,  on  the  29th  of  April, 
by  which  about  sixty  persons  were  killed  and  more  than  twice 
that  number  injured.  A  case  which  had  excited  unusual  in 
terest  in  the  community  was  to  be  decided  on  that  day  in  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  and  an  immense  crowd  of  people,  including 
many  ladies,  gathered  in  the  gallery  of  the  court-room,  which 
was  in  the  second  story  of  the  capitol.  Suddenly  the  over 
weighted  gallery  fell  on  to  the  floor,  which  then  broke  through, 
and  the  whole  mass  of  human  beings,  and  debris,  were  precipi 
tated  into  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Delegates  below. 
1871  In  March,  Congress  passed  an  Appropriation  Bill  and,  by  a 
clause  in  it,  the  President  was  authorized  to  prescribe  such  rules 
and  regulations  for  the  admission  of  persons  into  the  civil  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States  as  would  best  promote  its  efficiency, 
and  ascertain  the  fitness  of  each  candidate  in  respect  to  age, 
health,  character,  knowledge,  and  ability  for  the  service  into 
which  he  might  seek  to  enter.  The  President,  accordingly, 
appointed  six  persons  as  commissioners  to  devise  a  plan  where 
by  the  reform  could  best  be  carried  out,  and  they  made  their 
report  in  November. 

In  July,  disclosures  were  made  to  the  public,  by  means  of  the 
newspaper  press,  of  a  conspiracy  of  some  of  the  officials  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  which  revealed  a  plot  to  rob  that  city  to  a 
very  large  amount,  and  which  proved  to  be  one  of  the'  most 
colossal  frauds  ever  achieved  upon  any  community,  the  col 
lective  perpetrators  of  which  being  subsequently  denominated 
as  the  "Tweed  Ring."  In  the  summer  of  1868  a  plot  was 
formed  in  the  city  to  carry  the  State,  in  the  coming  election, 
for  the  Democratic  party.  When  the  polls  closed  on  election 
day,  the  result  in  the  several  counties  was  telegraphed  to  Wil 
liam  M.  Tweed,  chairman  of  the  General  Committee  of  Tam 
many  Hall.  The  count  in  New  York  City  was  delayed,  and 
Democratic  votes  were  returned  as  having  been  cast  in  the  city 
in  sufficient  number  to  carry  the  State.  The  scheme  thus  car 
ried  out  gave  Mr.  Tweed  great  power  in  both  the  State  Govern 
ment  and  that  of  New  York  City.  In  the  city  he  was  virtually 
political  dictator.  The  affairs  of  the  city  had  been  corruptly 
managed  for  several  years,  and  a  plan  was  now  formed  to  en 
rich  Tweed  and  his  immediate  friends  by  robbing  the  city  treas 
ury.  The  construction  of  a  new  County  Court -House  was 
arranged  for,  the  estimated  cost  which  wras  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  but  the  real  cost  of  which  might  be  made 
to  reach  several  millions.  In  the  following  year,  the  building 


222  HISTORY   OP   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

was  begun.  The  contractors  for  labor,  materials,  and  supplies 
were  required  to  increase  their  bills.  The  bills  were  passed  by 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  at  the  dictation  of  Tweed,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  Board.  They  were  audited  by  Auditor  Wat 
son,  his  tool.  The  contractors  received  the  amount  due  them, 
and  from  fifteen  to  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  total  bills  was  di 
vided  by  Tweed  and  his  friends  amongst  themselves.  Tweed's 
share  was  usually  twenty-five  per  cent.  In  1870,  for  the  first 
time  in  seventeen  years,  the  Democrats,  led  by  Tweed,  now 
had  complete  control  of  the  State  Government  of  New 
York.  The  city  government  of  New  York  was  solidly  Demo 
cratic.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year,  by  the  free  use  of  money, 
Tweed,  who  was  a  State  Senator  as  well  as  Commissioner  of 
Public  Works  in  the  city,  secured  the  passage  of  a  new  city 
charter.  The  power  of  auditing  bills  was  taken  from  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  audit, 
composed  of  A.  Oakey  Hall,  Mayor;  Richard  B.  Connolly, 
,  Comptroller;  William  M.  Tweed,  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works;  and  Peter  B.  Sweeney,  Commissioner  of  Parks.  The 
contractors  on  the  new  Court-House  were  required  to  make  out 
claims  for  imaginary  services,  and  these  bills,  to  the  amount  of 
six  millions  of  dollars,  were  passed  at  one  meeting.  Auditor 
Watson  was  then  authorized  to  certify  all  subsequent  bills,  the 
members  of  the  Board  signing  them  separately.  More  than 
half  the  amount  of  these  bills  passed  into  the  pockets  of  the 
Ring.  Over  one  million  of  the  six  millions,  before  referred  to, 
was  traced  to  Tweed.  Before  the  end  of  that  year,  the  fraudu 
lent  expenditures  on  the  Court  House  had  reached  over  eight 
millions  of  dollars.  To  silence  criticism,  Tweed  filled  the  pay 
rolls  of  the  city  government  with  multitudes  of  men,  drawing 
large  salaries,  who  never  performed  any  work,  and  gave  profit 
able  contracts  to  others  at  enormous  figures.  Checks  were  given 
for  salaries  larger  than  Governors'.  Police  Justices  were  given 
larger  compensation  than  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States. 
The  expenses  of  the  city  reached  twenty -four  millions  of  dol 
lars  a  year,  or  nearly  as  much  as  under  the  entire  civil  list  of 
the  United  States  Government.  The  politics  of  the  city  were 
completely  debauched.  Every  influential  thief,  gambler,  and 
ward  politician  rolled  in  money,  and  shone  in  diamonds  and 
costly  chains.  A  carnival  of  vice  reigned  in  every  quarter  of 
the  city.  In  two  years,  Tweed  bought  one  million  three  hun 
dred  and  forty -six  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy -five  dol 
lars  of  real  estate,  and,  in  partnership  with  Sweeney,  Connolly, 
and  others,  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  more.  During  that 
year  a  rebellion  broke  out  against  Tweed,  in  which  ex-Sheriff 
James  O'Brien  and  State  Senator  Harry  Genet  were  prominent. 
It  was  the  belief  that  some  of  the  disaffected  ones  merely  had 
in  view  a  larger  share  of  the  plunder,  but  O'Brien  made  his  op 
position  effectual  by  giving  to  The  New  York  Times  the  facts 
about  the  robberies  by  the  Ring,  After  several  significant  hints, 
as  early  as  May  of  this  year,  that  newspaper,  in  July,  disclosed 
the  operations  of  the  Ring.  People  were  slow  to  believe.  On 


HISTORY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  223 

the  4th  of  September,  a  mass  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at 
Cooper  Institute,  and  a  Committee  of  Seventy  was  appointed  to 
investigate  and  punish.  Governor  Hoffman  delegated  his  powers 
in  the  premises  to  Charles  O'Conor,  an  eminent  lawyer.  The 
Comptrollerwaspromptly  enjoined  frompaying  any  more  claims. 
Soon  afterwards,  the  Comptroller  resigned;  he  was  arrested,  re 
leased  on  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  bail,  and  fled  from 
the  country,  In  the  next  year  (1872)  a  number  of  suits  were 
brought  against  Tweed.  A.  Oakey  Hall  was  tried  in  March, 
but  a  juror  died  and  the  trial  was  interrupted.  He  was  tried 
again,  when  the  jury  disagreed.  In  1873,  Tweed  was  tried 
from  January  6th  to  the  31st;  the  jury  disagreed.  A  second 
trial,  lasting  from  November  5th  to  19th,  resulted  in  conviction 
on  every  one  of  the  fifty- one  counts  in  the  indictment.  Tweed 
wassentenced  to twelvey ears'  imprisonment  onBlackwell'sIsland 
and  to  pay  a  heavy  fine.  In  April,  1875,  a  civil  suit  was  begun 
in  the  Supreme  Court  against  Tweed  to  recover  six  million  one 
hundred  and  ninety-eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars.  In  the  January  following,  the  Court  of  Appeals  decided 
that  Tweed  could  be  no  longer  imprisoned,  because  he  had  been 
confined  on  a  cumulative  sentence.  He  was  discharged  on 
June  22,  1875,  but  rearrested  on  an  old  indictment.  He  was 
held  to  find  fifteen  thousand  dollars  bail  in  the  criminal  charge, 
and  three  million  dollars  bail  in  the  civil  suit.  December  4th, 
while  on  a  visit  from  Ludlow  Street  Jail  to  his  house,  in  cus 
tody  of  officers,  he  escaped,  and  made  his  way  to  sea  in  a  yacht. 
In  1876,  Tweed  was  recaptured  at  Vigo,  Spain,  and  brought 
back  to  New  York  in  November.  On  January  13th  of  the 
same  year,  the  civil  suit  against  him  was  brought  to  trial,  and 
on  March  8th  a  verdict  was  obtained  for  six  million  five  hun 
dred  and  thirty-seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventeen  dol 
lars  and  thirty-eight  cents,  of  which  one  million  eight  hundred 
and  seventeen  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  dollars 
and  three  cents  was  for  interest.  He  was,  after  his  recapture, 
sent  back  to  prison  on  Blackwell's  Island.  On  the  12th  of 
April,  1878,  Tweed  died  in  arison.  The  Ring  had  by  that  time 
been  completely  scattered  and  crushed;  but  the  city  never  re 
covered  more  than  a  small  prt  of  its  stolen  millions. 

Serious  troubles  between  the  operators  and  miners  in  the 
anthracite  coal  region  in  Pennsylvania,  commencing  in  the  pre 
ceding  fall,  were  continued  and  increased  until  their  culmina 
tion  in  the  summer  of  this  year.  It  began  in  the  upper 
Wyoming  region,  where  the  wages  of  miners,  as  announced, 
would  be  reduced.  A  strike  was  ordered  by  the  Working 
Men's  Benevolent  Association,  a  united  and  compact  organiza 
tion,  chartered  by  the  Legislature,  and  embracing  nearly  all  the 
entire  laboring  population  of  the  coal  country,  and  formed  with 
the  contemplated  object  of  securing  employment  to  its  mem 
bers,  and  preventing  a  reduction  of  wages.  In  January,  by 
order  of  this  Association,  the  strike  was  continued  throughout 
the  Schuylkill,  Lehigh,  and  Lower  Wyoming  districts.  In  the 
early  part  of  April,  serious  disturbances  occurred  in  the  section 


224  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

about  Scranton,  between  members  of  the  Association  and  the 
non-union  men,  and  their  employment  was  stopped  at  the 
mines,  the  strikers  having  torn  up  the  track,  demolished  the 
cars,  and  otherwise  damaging  the  works.  The  operators  and 
miners  throughout  the  coal  region  at  last  came  to  a  compromise, 
and  work  was  resumed. 

Water  was  brought  into  Providence  by  aqueduct,  and  on  the 
30th  of  November  the  event  was  celebrated. 

A  series  of  earthquakes,  computed  at  over  seven  thousand 
different  shocks,  occurred  during  a  space  of  two  weeks  in 
February,  in  California,  at  several  points.  In  Napa  County, 
in  Cram  Valley,  and  in  the  region  of  Owen's  Lake  and  River, 
they  were  felt  more  severely,  and  particularly  at  the  latter 
point.  Huge  fissures  were  rent  in  the  earth,  and  for  several 
miles  an  embankment  of  earth  was  raised  where  previously  it 
had  been  a  plain.  The  water  of  the  river  and  lake  ebbed  almost 
to  dryness,  and  then  returned  in  great  volume  and  overflowed 
the  adjacent  country.  Thirty  to  forty  persons  were  killed  by 
the  earthquake. 

On  the  7th  of  October,  a  large  fire  occurred  at  Chicago, 
which  involved  a  loss  of  one  million  of  dollars,  and  it  was 
succeeded  by  the  most  disastrous  conflagration  ever  before 
witnessed  in  the  annals  of  this  country.  This  last  great  fire 
•commenced  on  Sunday  evening,  October  8th,  and  continued 
to  rage  on  the  forenoon  of  the  following  day.  The  estimated 
number  of  lives  lost  was  two  hundred  and  fifty ;  of  persons 
rendered  homeless,  ninety-eighty  thousand  five  hundred ;  of 
buildings  consumed,  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred  ;  and  the 
value  of  the  property  destroyed,  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  millions  of  dollars.  It  included  the  business  and  the  best 
built  portion  of  the  city.  The  total  area  burned  over,  including 
;streets,  the  pavements  of  which  were  generally  rendered  worth 
less,  was  two  thousand  acres.  The  fire  did  its  work  so  com 
pletely,  that  in  not  more  than  a  dozen  cases  were  the  chimneys 
or  fire-walls  of  the  great  blocks  or  any  of  the  buildings  left 
standing.  It  was  possible,  standing  on  the  ground,  to  see  across 
the  burned  district  for  two  or  three  miles  without  anything  to 
obstruct  the  vision,  where,  before  the  fire,  were  standing  huge 
blocks  of  buildings  of  stone  and  brick. 

In  October,  extensive  fires  raged  in  the  timber  districts  of 
Wisconsin,  Central  Minnesota,  and  Michigan,  sweeping  away 
towns  and  villages  in  their  path;  and  in  three  counties  of  Wis 
consin  the  country  was  so  desolated  as  to  leave  no  vestige  of 
property  remaining  to  its  owners  but  the  bare  land.  On  the 
cast  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  the  towns  of  Manistee  and  Hol 
land  were  almost  entirely  destroyed.  Fires  prevailed  through 
out  all  the  pine  country  bordering  on  Lake  Michigan,  Green 
Bay,  and  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Huron.  It  was  estimated 
that  fifteen  thousand  people  in  Michigan  lost  homes,  clothing, 
crops,  farm-stock,  and  other  possessions,  by  the  fire. 

A  serious  riot  occurred  in  New  York  on  the  12th  of  July, 
arising  out  of  a  feud  existing  between  the  Irish  Protestants,  or 


HISTORY    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES.  225 

Orangemen,  and  the  Roman  Catholics.  The  Orangemen  pro 
posed  to  parade  the  streets  on  that  day  in  celebration  of  the 
Battle  of  the  Boyne,  and  threats  of  an  attack  upon  their  proces 
sion  were  made.  To  prevent  a  disturbance,  the  police  authorities 
issued  an  order  forbidding  the  parade,  but  which  upon  the  re 
quest  of  the  Governor  of  the  State  was  revoked.  A  large  body 
of  the  police  and  several  regiments  were  put  under  orders  to 
protect  the  procession.  At  one  point  an  assault  was  made  by 
the  crowd,  which  was  repulsed  by  the  military,  and  in  the 
affray  that  ensued,  over  one  hundred  persons  were  killed  or 
wounded. 

On  the  27th  of  January,  the  steamer  H.  R.  Arthur  left 
Louisville  for  New  Orleans,  and  when  about  fourteen  miles 
above  Memphis,  her  boilers  exploded,  the  boat  took  fire,  de 
stroying  by  the  catastrophe  eighty-seven  lives.  On  the  30th  of 
July,  the  boiler  of  a  Staten  Island  ferry-boat  exploded  as  it  was 
just  starting  put  of  its  slip  in  New  York,  crowded  with  pas 
sengers,  injuring  two  hundred  persons,  more  than  half  fatally. 
1872  The  work  of  reducing  taxation  continued.  The  tariff  on  tea, 
coffee,  and  some  other  articles  was  abolished  ;  that  on  some 
other  imports  reduced,  and  internal  revenue  was  modified.  By 
the  law  of  1870  most  of  the  stamp  tax  had  been  abolished 
already,  and  the  income  tax  expired  with  1871. 

The  "Alabama"  claims  of  the  United  States  against  Great  Brit 
ain,  springing  out  of  damage  to  American  shipping  by  Confed 
erate  cruisers  during  the  war,  were  arbitrated.  Several  of  these 
cruisers  had  been  built  and  equipped  in  British  ports,  in  vio 
lation  of  treaties,  and  had  been  the  subject  of  dispute  for  years. 
By  agreement  the  matter  was  submitted  to  five  commissioners 
from  Italy,  Brazil,  Switzerland,  the  United  States,  and  England. 
For  the  acts  of  the  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Shenandoah,  Great 
Britain  was  held  liable,  and  $15,500,000  damages  were  award 
ed  to  this  country  by  the  tribunal,  which  met  at  Geneva, 
Switzerland.  Subsequently,  Congress  established  a  court  of 
Alabama  claims  to  distribute  the  money  among  the  losers 
through  the  piracy  in  question. 

Extensive  strikes  occurred  among  the  carpenters,  bricklayers, 
and  other  workmen  employed  in  building  in  New  York  City, 
beginning  in  April.  From  40,000  to  50,000  were  thus  engaged. 
The  several  trades  combined  against  the  employers,  and  the 
latter  combined  in  self-defence.  Most  of  the  laborers  surrender 
ed  in  June,  having  lost  in  the  aggregate  wages  amounting  to 
$1,400,000.  The  contractors  and  builders  lost  $1,100,000. 
General  business  was  indirectly  hurt  to  the  extent  of 
$5,760,000.  The  strike  was  not  fairly  under  way  until  the 
middle  of  May.  Then  a  mass  meeting  was  held  to  discuss  the 
grievances  of  the  workingmen.  A  number  of  allied  trades, 
such  as  painters,  upholsterers,  cabinet-makers,  sewing-machine 
makers,  iron-founders  and  piano-makers,  followed.  There  were 
strikes  in  other  cities  in  the  country  at  the  same  time,  but  none 
of  great  account.  A  crowd  of  strikers  forcibly  effected  an  en 
trance  into  the  Steinway  piano  factory,  June  15th,  to  persuade 


226  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

or  force  the  remaining  workmen  there  to  leave.  The  police 
ejected  the  invaders,  but  only  after  a  violent  struggle.  This 
event  and  the  shooting  of  a  non-striking  carpenter  were  the 
most  serious  acts  of  violence  attending  the  strike.  Serious 
trouble,  however,  was  feared  at  one  time,  and  the  State  militia 
were  gotten  in  readiness  to  assist  the  police.  Soon  afterwards 
the  workmen  and  employers  came  to  an  understanding. 

At  the  presidential  election  of  this  year  Grant  was  re-elected 
President  by  760,000  majority,  the  largest  ever  given  at  any 
national  election  in  this  country.  He  carried  all  but  seven 
States.  His  associate  on  the  Republican  ticket  was  Henry 
Wilson,  of  Massachusetts.  The  Democrats  ratified  as  candidate 
for  President  and  Vice-President  Horace  Greeley,  of  New  York, 
and  B.  Gratz  Brown,  of  Missouri,  who  had  first  been  nomi 
nated  by  the  Liberal  Republicans.  These  men  had  formerly 
acted  with  the  Republican  party,  but  in  this  year  withdrew, 
criticising  the  use  of  troops  in  the  South  by  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  as  an  invasion  of  State  rights,  and  demanding  a  re 
form  in  the  civil  service.  The  Labor  party  nominated  Charles 
O'Conor  for  President,  with  no  candidate  for  Vice-President. 

During  the  year  $200,000,000  of  national  bonds,  drawing  6 
per  cent  interest,  were  exchanged  for  the  same  quantity  of  a 
new  loan  drawing  only  5  per  cent,  and  a  year  later  $100,- 
000,000  more  of  the  debt  was  similarly  converted,  a  saving  of 
$3,000,000  in  interest  annually  being  thereby  effected.  Subse 
quently,  a  large  portion  of  the  national  debt  was  converted  into 
4  and  4i  per  cent  bonds. 

On  the  27th  of  February,  Congress  passed  a  bill  setting  apart 
the  Yellowstone  Valley,  in  Montana  and  Wyoming  Terri 
tories,  as  a  national  park. 

The  American  District  Telegraph  Company  was  organized 
in  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  private  residences 
with  central  telegraph  stations. 

Up  to  July  1st  the  quantity  of  South  Carolina  phosphate 
shipped  from  Charleston  was  242,415  tons,  in  the  crude  state, 
and  90,000  tons  of  manufactured.  The  first  shipment  was  made 
in  1867. 

A  remarkable  epidemic  among  horses  prevailed  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  this  year.  It  had  been  terribly  severe  in  Canada, 
and  early  in  October  was  reported  in  Boston,  Buffalo,  Rochester, 
and  Syracuse,  and  it  soon  spread  to  other  places.  In  some  of 
the  large  cities  it  almost  put  an  absolute  stop  to  traffic,  and  in 
some  cases  the  horse-railroads  ceased  running  entirely  for  a 
time. 

A  destructive  conflagration  began  in  Boston  on  the  evening 
of  the  9th  of  November,  lasting  twenty-four  hours,  and  result 
ing  in  the  destruction  of  the  very  heart  of  the  wholesale  trade. 
From  Summer  Street  north  nearly  to  State  Street,  and  from 
Washington  Street  east  to  the  water's  edge,  with  two  or  three 
small  exceptions,  there  was  nothing  but  rubbish  remaining  of 
the  many  hundreds  of  granite  and  iron  structures  in  which  the 
dry  goods  merchants,  wool  merchants,  and  leather  merchants 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  227 

of  many  blocks,  carried  on  trade.  Not  many  public  buildings 
were  lost,  but  the  warehouses  covering  the  site  of  the  birthplace 
of  Franklin  and  the  homes  of  Webster  and  Everett  perished. 
The  loss  in  buildings  and  merchandise  was  estimated  at  seventy- 
five  millions  of  dollars,  and  fifty  millions  of  insurance  capital 
were  wiped  out.  The  fire  spread  over  an  area  of  sixty  acres. 

The  Metis,  a  propeller,  collided  with  a  schooner  on  Long 
Island  Sound  on  the  30th  of  August,  and  caused  the  loss  of 
fiftv  lives. 

About  seven  hundred  miners  were  killed  during  the  preced 
ing  three  years,  and  seventeen  hundred  maimed,  in  the  an 
thracite  coal  region  in  Pennsylvania. 

1873     Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  Henry  Wilson  took  the  oaths  of  office 
as  President  and  Vice-President  on  the  4th  of  March. 

The  Credit  Mobilier  scandal  was  ventilated  by  congressional 
inquiry  early  in  the  year.  James  G.  Elaine,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  had  offered  a  resolution  calling  for  such  in 
vestigation  in  December,  1872,  upon  the  meeting  of  Congress. 
The  facts  brought  out  were  as  follows  :  No  private  contractors 
could  be  engaged  to  build  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  which 
Congress  chartered  in  1862.  A  corporation  was  formed,  there 
fore,  called  the  Credit  Mobilier,  of  which  the  stockholders  were 
mostly  stockholders  of  the  railroad  company.  This  new  or 
ganization  agreed  to  build  the  road  in  consideration  of  certain 
land  grants  and  government  bonds  issued  originally  to  the  rail 
road  company  to  assist  in  its  construction.  The  capital  stock 
of  the  ^  Credit  Mobilier  was  $2,500,000,  but  by  subsequent 
legislation  this  was  increased  50  per  cent,  the  addition  being 
'taken  by  the  holders  of  the  original  stock.  The  Credit  Mobilier 
then  went  ahead  and  built  the  road.  The  profits  derived  from 
this  contract  were  so  great  that  in  the  winter  of  1867-8  the 
stock  was  estimated  to  have  a  value  of  $380  or  $400  per  share 
of  $100.  It  was  not  placed  on  the  general  market,  however, 
All  sales  were  private,  and  the  character  of  the  scheme  was  not 
generally  known.  In  June,  1868,  a  dividend  of  $60  a  share 
was  declared.  This  was  the  largest  dividend  received  by  the 
holders.  It  appeared  subsequently  that  during  this  same  winter 
Oakes  Ames,  a  congressman  from  Massachusetts,  had  approach 
ed  various  congressmen  and  senators  with  quiet  offers  of  Credit 
Mobilier  stock  at  the  low  price  of  $100  a  share,  Some  of  them, 
including  Schuyler  Col  fax,  then  Speaker  of  the  House,  and 
James  Brooks,  of  New  York,  a  government  director  of  the 
Pacific  Railroad,  purchased  a  greater  or  less  quantity,  most  of 
them,  however,  taking  only  a  few  shares.  Several  did  not  pay 
cash,  but  gave  personal  notes.  They  afterwards  alleged  that 
they  saw  no  impropriety  in  the  purchase,  any  more  than  in  any 
other  investment,  and  Ames,  in  "letting  them  in  on  the  ground- 
floor,"  was  apparently  doing  them  only  a  personal  favor.  Upon 
inquiry,  it  appeared  that  the  Pacific  Railroad  and  Credit  Mo 
bilier  companies  would  not  ask  for  any  further  legislation  from 
Congress,  and  so  most  of  the  purchasers,  if  troubled  with  con 
scientious  scruples,  concluded  that  they  might  honorably  retain 


228  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

the  stock.  Some  of  them,  however,  growing  suspicious,  re 
turned  it  to  Mr.  Ames  and  took  up  their  notes.  But,  while  the 
corporations  did  not  intend  to  ask  for  positive  legislation,  they 
were  threatened  by  adverse  legislation,  against  which  they 
wished  to  sway  as  many  members  as  possible.  There  was  some 
popular  dissatisfaction  with  the  high  rates  of  transportation 
charged  by  the  Union  Pacific,  and  in  December,  1867,  Mr. 
"Washburne,  of  Wisconsin,  introduced  a  bill  into  Congress  to 
provide  for  their  reduction.  This  had  been  anticipated,  and 
was  known  as  "  the  Wash burne  movement."  An  inkling  of 
the  profits  enjoyed  by  the  Credit  Mobilier  having  been  obtain 
ed  in  certain  quarters,  too,  there  was  talk  of  depriving  the 
Union  Pacific  of  some  of  its  land-grants.  This  project,  how 
ever,  though  anticipated  by  the  managers  of  the  Credit  Mo 
bilier,  was  not  carried  into  effect.  But  the  two  schemes  afford 
ed  sufficient  motive  for  what,  upon  exposure,  was  looked  upon 
as  bribery  by  Mr.  Ames.  These  facts  having  been  reported 
by  the  investigating  committee  to  Congress  in  February  of  this 
year,  Mr.  Ames  was  expelled  from  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  his  conduct,  and  Mr.  Brooks  for  accepting  bribes.  It  was 
also  proposed  to  impeach  Mr.  Coif  ax,  who  at  this  time  was  Vice- 
President,  but  after  careful  consideration  the  judiciary  com 
mittee  advised  against  it,  since  the  offence  of  accepting  the  stock 
was  not  committed  during  the  term  of  office  he  was  now  finish 
ing.  Mild  censure  was  passed  upon  some  other  congressmen. 
The  scandal  attracted  wide  attention  all  over  the  country,  and 
was  occasionally  referred  to,  afterwards,  in  national  politics. 

Modoc  Indians,  numbering  about  two  hundred,  attracted 
much  attention  by  their  stubborn  resistance  to  Federal  troops, 
which  were  sent  to  capture  them  on  the  southern  boundary  of 
Oregon,  and  to  remove  them  to  a  reservation.  Late  in  1872, 
peaceful  overtures  were  made  to  them  which  they  haughtily 
rejected.  A  fight  with  troops  sent  to  give  moral  support  to 
the  negotiations  followed.  Thereupon  the  Modocs,  led  by 
Captain  Jack  and  Scar-faced  Charlie,  withdrew  to  some  lava 
beds,  just  over  the  frontier  in  Northern  California.  Aside 
from  this  particular  band,  the  other  Indians  of  the  Modoc 
tribe,  together  with  numerous  Klamath  Indians  in  Northern 
California,  were  quietly  removed  to  the  reservation.  The 
Klamaths  were  a  peaceful  class,  and  had  been  serving  the 
whites  as  herdsmen,  and  in  other  similar  capacities.  But  cer 
tain  agitators  raised  the  cry  that  they  were  rivals  of  white 
workmen ;  and  thus  arose  the  crusade  against  them.  These 
facts  becoming  known,  during  the  winter  and  spring  of  this 
year,  some  opposition  was  made  in  the  East  to  the  war  against 
the  hostile  Modocs.  But  an  event  occurred  in  April  which 
robbed  them  of  popular  sympathy.  A  commission  had  been 
sent  to  treat  with  them  again.  A  meeting  under  a  flag  of  truce 
was  arranged,  and  a  conference  was  in  progress,  the  llth, 
when,  without  warning,  a  murderous  assault  was  made  upon 
the  government's  representatives  by  the  savages.  General 
Canby  and  Mr.  Thomas  were  killed  outright,  and  General 


HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  229 

Meacham,  the  third  commissioner,  was  seriously  wounded. 
War  against  the  treacherous  redskins  was  now  waged  with  great 
bitterness.  The  nature  of  the  stronghold,  which  they  had  oc 
cupied,  was  such  that  their  capture  was  exceedingly  difficult. 
The  Federal  soldiers  were  less  familiar  with  the  lava  beds  than 
the  Indians  were,  and  were  repulsed  with  considerable  slaughter 
almost  every  time  they  made  an  attack ;  while  the  Indians 
suffered  but  little  loss.  But  the  affair  had  reached  a  stage 
where  the  government  was  obliged  to  go  ahead,  and  the  siege 
was  pressed,  at  great  expense,  for  several  months.  The  Indians 
were  finally  captured,  and  the  ringleaders  put  on  trial  for  their 
murderous  assault  on  the  Federal  commissioners.  Seven  of 
them  were  convicted  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  In  the  case 
of  four  this  sentence  was  commuted.  The  others  were  hanged 
Oct.  3d.  What  was  left  of  the  warrior  band,  a  mere  handful, 
was  now  removed  to  a  reservation  in  Dakota. 

Profound  sensation  was  created  by  the  seizure  of  a  sailing 
vessel  known  as  the  Virginius,  carrying  the  American  flag,  by 
the  Spanish  war  steamer  Tornado,  Oct.  31st,  on  the  suspicion 
that  the  former  was  carrying  munitions  of  war  to  the  Cuban 
insurgents  contrary  to  international  law.  Many  Americans 
were  in  favor  of  resenting  the  insult  to  the  flag  by  declaring 
war  ;  and  vigorous  correspondence  over  the  affair  was  had  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Spanish  governments.  The  Vir 
ginius  was  finally  surrendered  to  the  United  States,  Dec.  16th. 
A  demand  was  made  that,  in  addition,  the  Spanish  authorities 
should  salute  the  flag,  but  Secretary  Fish  consented  to  waive 
this,  if  the  Madrid  government  could  establish  the  fact  that  the 
Virginius  was  not  entitled  to  carry  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  This 
was  done  to  his  satisfaction,  and  the  salute  was  not  required. 

The  one-cent  postal  card  was  first  used  in  this  country  this 
year. 

Congress  abolished  the  franking  privilege  hitherto  enjoyed 
by  congressmen.  Subsequently  they  were  authorized  to  send 
public  documents  free,  but  not  letters. 

A  memorable  financial  panic,  from  the  effects  of  which  the 
country  did  not  entirely  recover  for  several  years,  occurred  in 
the  fall.  A  number  of  causes  contributed  to  it.  One  of  them 
was  the  heavy  balance  of  trade  against  this  country.  In  the 
flush  of  prosperity  which  had  followed  since  the  war,  people 
had  gotten  into  the  way  of  buying  articles  of  luxury  imported 
from  foreign  countries;  and  the  quantity  of  merchandise 
brought  into  the  United  States,  from  other  lands,  so  far  exceeded 
our  exports  that  sixty-three  millions  of  dollars  of  gold  coin  had  to 
be  sent  out  of  the  country  to  square  the  account.  During  1872 
the  export  of  coin  was  sixty-eight  millions  of  dollars.  This  heavy 
drainage  made  gold  somewhat  scarce,  and  caused  a  feeling  of 
insecurity  in  business  matters.  A  more  fruitful  cause  of  dis 
aster  was  the  immense  quantity  of  bonds  issued  by  towns, 
cities,  states,  and  corporations,  in  support  of  railroad  enter 
prises.  Instead  of  building  with  capital  actually  subscribed, 
localities  along  the  routes  were  induced  to  assist  by  contribu- 


230  HISTORY    OP   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

tions  in  the  form  of  bonds.  It  was  an  era  of  great  activity  in 
railroad  construction.  Not  only  were  vast  enterprises,  like  the 
Northern  Pacific,  being  pressed  with  much  vigor,  but  countless 
lesser  schemes  were  also  under  way.  Scarcely  a  State  in  the 
Union,  especially  in  the  North,  escaped  the  fever.  In  the  more 
thickly  settled  East  the  proposed  roads  were  mostly  local ;  in 
the  less  heavily  populated  West  the  lines  were  extensive.  In 
the  five  years  ending  with  1873  the  enormous  sum  of  one 
billion  seven  hundred  millions  of  dollars  was  spent  in  building 
railroads  in  the  United  States.  Many  mining  companies,  not 
all  of  them  on  a  sound  basis,  were  also  borrowing  money  on 
bonds ;  and  manufacturing  concerns  did  likewise.  A  large 
part  of  this  indebtedness  was  incurred  abroad,  especially  at 
first.  When  the  foreigners  had  taken  all  of  these  bonds  that 
they  could  be  induced  to  buy,  the  brokers  began  to  place  them 
at  home.  Savings-banks,  trustees  of  estates,  private  investors 
and  speculators,  upon  attractive  representations  as  to  the  value 
of  the  schemes  thus  engaged  in  borrowing,  took  the  securities, 
until  finally  the  country  was  overloaded.  The  export  of  gold 
made  financiers  uneasy.  Greenbacks  were  hoarded.  The 
stringency  thus  created  caused  increased  nervousness.  The 
United  States  Government  was  appealed  to,  to  relieve  the  money 
market  by  buying  its  own  bonds,  and  thus  throwing  more  paper 
into  circulation.  It  did  so,  to  the  extent  of  fourteen  millions  of 
dollars  ;  but  the  eagerness  of  investors  to  convert  even  Federal 
securities  into  ready  money  was  so  great  that  the  sale  had  to 
be  stopped.  Before  this  point  was  reached  the  creditors  of 
some  of  the  banking  houses  that  had  most  heavily  invested  in 
railroad  bonds  began  to  make  demands  which  the  banks  could 
not  meet;  and  several  failures  ensued.  This  precipitated  a 
panic  in  September.  A  run  was  started  on  numerous  savings- 
banks.  The  credit  system  in  business  was  abruptly  suspended. 
Debtors  were  hard  pressed  by  creditors.  Investors  became  anx 
ious  to  realize  on  their  securities,  and  there  was  a  general  desire 
to  sell.  Stocks,  bonds,  and  commercial  paper  rapidly  depre 
ciated.  Real  estate,  manufactures,  and  all  kinds  of  property 
suffered  similarly.  The  worst  part  of  the  panic  was  confined 
to  ten  days,  beginning  Sept.  20th,  during  which  the  New  York 
Clearing  House  suspended.  The  bankers  at  the  metropolis 
then  agreed  to  pool  their  greenbacks,  to  pay  only  checks  certi 
fied  as  good  through  the  Clearing  House,  and  to  issue  ten  mil 
lions  of  dollars  in  loan  certificates.  The  savings-banks  took  ad 
vantage  of  the  thirty-day  notice  privilege.  And  at  length  the 
excitement  was  stayed.  Depreciation  and  stagnation  followed. 
United  States  bonds  suffered  less  than  other  securities,  falling 
off  only  5  or  10  per  cent.  Railroad  stocks  declined  anywhere 
from  10  to  30  per  cent,  and  some  even  40  per  cent.  Factories 
now  found  themselves  bothered  with  a  surplus  of  unsalable 
products.  Some  of  them  curtailed  their  output  by  running  on 
short  time.  Others  suspended  altogether.  Thousands  of  work- 
ingmen  were  thrown  out  of  employment,  or  put  on  reduced 
wages.  No  class  of  society  escaped  suffering.  The  income  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  231 

the  rich  was  greatly  diminished.  They  economized  accordingly, 
especially  on  imported  goods.  Trade  was  dull,  and  the  mer 
chants  could  hardly  make  a  living.  The  credit  system  was 
suspended.  Failures  occurred  everywhere  ;  and  a  period  of 
financial  depression  and  industrial  prostration  followed,  which 
extended  through  the  following  year  or  two.  From  some  of 
the  shrinkage  in  values  property  never  recovered. 

The  work  of  building  the  East  River  Bridge,  connecting  the 
cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  was  commenced. 

The  steamship  Atlantic,  of  the  White  Star  line,  on  her  pas 
sage  from  Liverpool  to  New  York,  while  putting  into  Halifax 
for  a  fresh  supply  of  coal,  ran  into  a  rock,  on  the  1st  of  April, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  became  a  total  wreck.  Of  nine  hundred 
and  fifty -seven  persons  on  board,  five  hundred  and  thirty-five 
were  drowned. 

The  steamer  Wawasset,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  was  burned 
off  Aquia  Creek,  on  the  8th  of  August,  causing  a  loss  of  seventy- 
five  lives. 

A  conflagration  occurred  in  Boston  on  the  30th  of  May, 
destroying  property  valued  at  thirteen  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
One  in  Baltimore,  on  the  25th  of  July,  destroyed  property 
valued  at  a  little  over  one  million  of  dollars.  On  the  2d  of 
August,  a  fire  in  Portland,  Oregon,  destroyed  twenty-three 
blocks  of  buildings,  valued,  with  other  property  lost,  at  one  and 
a  half  millions  of  dollars. 

1874  A  prominent  feature  of  national  politics  was  the  movement 
to  secure,  by  legislation,  the  issue  of  a  larger  quantity  of  gov 
ernment  paper  currency.  The  Treasury  notes,  or  "  greenbacks," 
had  been  designed,  at  first,  only  as  a  temporary  expedient,  and 
were  an  outgrowth  of  the  necessities  of  the  war  period.  Their 
constitutionality  had  been  seriously  questioned,  though  after 
wards  affirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court.  But  now  there  was  a 
demand  that  the  government  issue  paper  as  a  permanent  peace 
currency.  The  doctrine  was  enunciated  vigorously  that  intrinsic 
value  was  unnecessary  in  a  currency.  The  government's  fiat 
made  it  money,  though  the  material  was  worthless.  This 
inflation  movement,  which  was  stimulated  by  the  hard  times, 
which  ran  for  five  or  six  years  in  politics,  and  which  led  to  the 
election  of  several  Governors  and  Congressmen,  was  smothered 
at  the  outset  by  the  passage  of  a  bill  this  year  considerably  in 
creasing  the  greenback  circulation.  This,  in  April,  President 
Grant  vetoed.  Another  law  was  then  enacted  so  regulating 
Treasury  administration  as  gradually  to  contract  the  currency, 
although  it  was  several  months  before  this  effect  was  discov 
ered. 

Louisiana  was  the  scene  of  a  violent  struggle  between  rival 
claimants  of  the  State  government.  The  trouble  began  as  far 
back  as  December,  1871,  when  two  different  factions  each  tried 
to  capture  the  legislature  by  unseating  members  of  the  oppo 
site  party.  In  January  following,  Federal  troops  had  been 
called  upon  to  preserve  peace.  Again  in  December,  1872,  an 
other  controvery  arose  as  to  the  result  of  the  election  for  gov- 


232  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

ernor  and  legislators,  the  Returning  Board  having  split,  one 
part  declaring  William  P.  Kellogg  governor,  and  the  other 
John  McEnery.  The  United  States  District  Court,  however, 
enjoined  McEnery  from  acting,  on  the  ground  that  the  return 
ing  board  which  had  proclaimed  him  elected  had  done  so 
in  defiance  of  its  order.  Both  claimants  were  inaugurated; 
and  Federal  troops  were  used  to  break  up  the  McEnery  admin 
istration,  Kellogg  being  recognized  at  Washington  as  the  law 
ful  governor.  Late  in  the  summer  of  1874,  McEnery  again 
laid  claim  to  the  governorship.  Party  feeling  now  ran  very 
high,  on  account  of  various  fatal  affrays  between  the  blacks 
and  whites  in  Louisiana  and  elsewhere.  September  14th,  in 
McEnery's  absence,  D.  B.  Penn,  claiming  to  be  lieutenant- 
governor,  organized  a  militia  force  and  sent  it  to  the  State- 
house  to  drive  Kellogg  put.  It  succeeded,  a  fight  in  the  streets 
having  first  occurred,  in  which  the  police  and  other  militia 
offered  resistance.  Twenty-six  persons  were  killed  and  about 
forty  wounded  in  this  conflict.  Kellogg  appealed  to  the  Presi 
dent  for  aid,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  requiring 
the  Federal  authorities  to  guarantee  to  each  State  a  republican 
form  of  government.  General  Emory,  acting  under  orders 
from  Washington,  compelled  McEnery,  who  had  now  re 
turned,  superseding  Penn,  to  surrender.  The  trouble  broke 
out  again  in  January,  1875,  when,  owin^  to  a  dispute  about 
the  election  of  several  members,  the  legislature  divided  into 
two  bodies,  each  claiming  to  be  the  legal  legislature.  Violence 
attended  the  split;  and  Federal  troops  were  again  employed  to 
preserve  peace  and  maintain  Kellogg.  A  Congressional  com 
mittee,  headed  by  George  F.  Hoar,  thereupon  visited  New  Or 
leans,  and,  after  weeks  of  negotiation,  adjusted  the  contro 
versy.  The  dual  legislatures  combined,  a  majority  of  the 
members  being  hostile  to  Kellogg,  who  was  recognized  as  gov 
ernor. 

For  the  first  time  since  Lincoln  was  elected  in  1860,  the 
Lower  House  of  Congress,  by  the  elections  of  1874,  was  given 
to  the  Democrats.  Among  the  newly  chosen  members  were 
many  ex-Confederate  generals,  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
Vice-President  of  the  late  Confederacy. 

A  magnificent  steel  railway  bridge  over  the  Mississippi  River, 
near  St.  Louis,  was  opened  to  traffic.  It  was  begun  in  1867, 
and  composed  of  three  spans,  two  of  them  five  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long,  and  one  five  hundred  and  fifteen.  The 
arches  were  sixty  feet  above  the  water. 

King  Kalakaua  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  visited  the  United 
States,  reaching  Washington  on  the  12th  of  December.  He 
was  formally  presented  to  the  President  on  the  15th,  and  wel 
comed  by  Congress  on  the  18th. 

A  great  calamity  visited  the  people  of  Northwestern  Minne 
sota  early  in  the  summer.  The  locusts  devoured  every  kind  of 
crop,  and  left  the  country  perfectly  bare.  Many  thousands  of 
persons  suffered  for  food. 

On  the  8th  of  October,  1873,  an  election  took  place  in  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  233 

several  suburban  municipalities  of  Boston,  which  resulted  in  a 
decision  to  merge  them  under  one  city  government  the  first  day 
of  this  year.  Charlestown,  Brighton,  and  West  Roxbury  voted 
aye,  and  Brookline  in  the  negative.  The  consolidated  city  of 
Boston  contained  at  that  time  292,486  inhabitants.  The  annexa 
tion  of  West  Farms,  Morrisania,  and  King's  Bridge  to  New 
York  City  was  also  effected,  giving  a  population  to  the  latter 
of  1,021,000.  m 

The  Mill  River  Reservoir,  covering  a  tract  of  one  hundred 
acres  at  Williamsburg,  Mass.,  gave  way  on  the  16th  of  May, 
precipitating  the  vast  mass  of  water  it  contained  down  a  steep 
and  narrow  valley  into  the  village  of  Williamsburg,  and  thence 
further  down  the  valley  through  the  villages  of  Haydenville, 
Leeds,  and  Florence  into  the  ^Northampton  meadows.  Manu 
facturing  establishments  and  dwellings  representing  over  a 
million  dollars'  worth  of  property  were  swept  away,  and  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  people  were  drowned. 

On  the  14th  of  July  a  conflagration  occurred  in  Chicago,  de 
stroying  three  hundred  and  forty-six  buildings  and  other  prop 
erty,  of  the  total  value,  as  estimated,  of  four  millions  of  dollars. 

A  destructive  deluge  destroyed  about  one  hundred  lives  and 
an  immense  amount  of  property  at  Pittsburg  on  the  26th  of 
July.  The  steamboat  Pat  Rogers  took  fire  on  the  Ohio  River, 
below  Aurora,  on  the  5th  of  August,  and  fifty  lives  were  lost 
by  the  disaster. 

1875  The  Civil  Rights  bill  passed  Congress.  It  provided  that  all 
citizens,  regardless  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude,  should  have  equal  privileges  at  inns,  theatres,  and 
schools,  and  on  railroad,  steamboat,  and  other  transportation 
lines.  This  was  to  enforce  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth 
Amendments  to  the  Constitution,  its  projectors  claimed. 
Charles  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  was  conspicuous  in  pressing 
the  measure  in  Congress.  It  was  extensively  debated  the  pre 
vious  year,  but  left  in  the  hands  of  a  committee.  The  law  was 
provoked  by  discriminations,  chiefly  in  the  late  slave  States, 
against  the  freedmen  in  travelling  and  at  places  of  entertain 
ment.  Bitter  opposition  to  the  measure  was  offered  to  the  en 
actment  by  Southern  Congressmen,  principally  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  an  invasion  of  State  rights  not  warranted  by  the 
Constitution.  Some  parts  of  the  bill  were  declared  unconsti 
tutional  a  few  years  afterward  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court. 

The  President,  on  the  14th  of  January,  approved  an  act  of 
Congress  to  provide  for  the  resumption  of  specie  payments.  It 
required  the  coinage  of  silver  coins  to  replace  the  fractional 
currency;  provided  for  the  formation  of  other  national  banks, 
and  for  every  hundred  dollars  they  issued,  as  a  circulation, 
eighty  dollars  of  greenbacks  to  be  withdrawn,  until  the  green 
backs  in  circulation  should  not  exceed  three  hundred  millions 
of  dollars;  also  that  on  and  after  January  1,  1879,  the  green 
backs  be  redeemed  hi  coin,  and  to  prepare  for  so  doing  by  sell 
ing  the  bonds  of  the  United  States. 


234  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

In  March,  Congress  authorized  Captain  James  B.  Eads  to, 
open  the  South  Pass  of  the  Mississippi  at  an  expense  of  five 
millions  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  first  cardinal  in  the  United  States  was  appointed — 
Archbishop  John  McCloskey  of  New  York. 

The  United  States  Direct  Cable  was  completed  June  10th. 
This  ocean  telegraph  scheme  was  the  first  successful  one  or 
ganized  in  opposition  to  the  old  Anglo-American  line,  though 
afterwards  it  entered  into  combination  with  it.  It  was  pro 
jected  by  capitalists  working  in  connection  with  land  lines  that 
were  rivals  of  the  "Western  Union,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific, 
and  the  Franklin  Telegraph  companies;  and  it  was  to  be  op 
erated  in  co-operation  with  those  lines.  The  work  of  laying 
this  began  in  the  summer  of  1874.  A  short  section  from  Rye 
Beach  to  Torbay,  Newfoundland,  measuring  about  six  hun 
dred  miles,  was  laid  by  the  steamer  Faraday;  and  then  the 
long  section  from  the  Irish  coast — Ballinskelligs  Bay — to 
America  was  begun.  Late  in  the  season,  when  the  Faraday 
was  nearly  through  her  work,  she  was  overtaken  by  a  series  of 
severe  storms,  which  compelled  her  to  cut  the  cable  and  buoy 
the  end  in  mid-ocean,  and  at  length  to  abandon  it.  Badly 
leaking,  she  slowly  made  her  way  back  to  England.  Grave 
fears  for  her  safety  were  entertained,  but  she  got  through  all 
right.  In  April  of  this  year  she  left  England  to  complete  the 
work.  The  cable  was  picked  up  and  spliced  to  that  portion  on 
board.  When  the  Faraday  was  within  twenty  miles  of 
America  she  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  work  again,  and  come 
into  Cape  Breton  for  coal.  After  these  and  other  delays  the 
enterprise  was  finally  consummated  in  June.  Cable  rates, 
which  had  once  been  ten  dollars  a  word,  had  recently  fallen  to 
fifty  cents  a  word ;  and  now  another  drop  to  twenty-five  cents 
resulted. 

The  first  train  passed  through  the  Hoosac  Tunnel,  Massa 
chusetts,  on  the  9th  of  February.  The  tunnel  is  four  and 
three-quarter  miles  long,  twenty-five  feet  high,  and  twenty- 
seven  feet  wide. 

The  system  of  fast  trains  for  the  delivery  of  the  mails  went 
into  operation  on  the  16th  of  September. 

This  year  there  were  sixteen  clearing-houses  in  operation  hi 
as  many  cities,  and  three  hundred  and  thirty-four  banks  were 
associated  in  their  support  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  their  ex 
changes. 

The  Gulf  of  Mexico  was  visited  by  a  violent  cyclone  from 
the  16th  to  the  19th  of  September.  In  Galveston,  the  water 
was  driven  across  the  island  alternately  from  gulf  to  bay. 
Houses  were  removed,  the  railroad  damaged,  and  numerous 
vessels  driven  ashore.  In  Indianola  over  one  hundred  lives 
were  lost.  The  place  was  flooded  eight  feet  deep,  and  houses, 
stores,  wharves,  and  the  light-house  were  swept  away.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  houses  in  the  place  were  destroyed. 

On  the  28th  of  April,  a  square  mile  of  the  city  of  Oshkosh, 
Wis.,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  involving  a  loss  of  property  val- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  235 

ued  at  two  millions  of  dollars.  The  same  amount  of  property 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  town  of  Osceola,  Pa.  Two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  houses  were  consumed.  A  fire  broke  out  in  the 
French  Catholic  church  at  Holyoke,  Mass.,  on  the  27th  of 
May,  during  a  celebration  of  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  and 
seventy-five  lives  were  lost  by  the  disaster.  On  the  26th  of  Oc 
tober,  a  conflagration  at  Virginia  City,  Col.,  destroyed  the  en 
tire  business  portion  of  the  place,  with  a  loss  of  four  millons  of 
dollars  in  property. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  the  steamship  Pacific,  on  her  pas 
sage  between  San  Francisco  and  Portland,  Oregon,  foundered, 
engulfing  and  destroying  two  hundred  lives.  Nearly  seventy 
lives  were  lost  by  the  burning  of  the  steamship  City  of  Waco, 
off  Galveston  bar,  on  the  9th  of  November. 

.1876     Colorado  was  admitted  as  the  thirty-eighth  State  to  the 
Union. 

The  centennial  of  American  Independence  was  celebrated  by 
an  international  exposition  held  at  Fairmount  Park,  Philadel 
phia,  under  the  management  of  a  commission  made  up  of  mem 
bers  from  each  State  in  the  Union.  Gen.  Joseph  R.  Hawley  was 
president.  Congress  appropriated  $2,000,000,  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia  $1,500,000,  and  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  $1,000,000  to 
the  project,  which  was  also  sustained  by  the  issue  of  $10,000,- 
000  stock  to  subscribers.  A  tract  of  236  acres  was  enclosed  for 
the  exhibition.  The  city  of  Philadelphia  spent  a  great  deal  of 
money  improving  the  avenues  in  the  direction  of  the  park,  and 
the  railroad  companies  extended  their  tracks  to  the  fair-ground, 
to  facilitate  the  delivery  of  exhibits.  The  five  principal  exhi 
bition  buildings  were  erected  at  a  cost  of  $4,500,000.  The  main 
edifice  was  1880  feet  (or  more  than  a  third  of  a  mile)  in  length 
and  464  feet  in  width,  giving  an  area  of  872,320  square  feet  for 
the  use  of  exhibition.  This  building  was  used  for  the  display 
of  manufactured  articles,  and  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity, 
suitable  aisles  being  left  for  the  proper  access  of  spectators. 
An  electric  railway  made  a  complete  circuit  of  the  building, 
outside,  for  the  convenience  of  visitors.  All  the  civilized  na 
tions  of  the  globe  had  been  invited  to  participate  in  this  exhi 
bition,  and  the  response  was  general  and  hearty.  Many  years 
had  elapsed  since  America  had  had  any  such  fair,  and  the 
centennial  associations  led  to  this  one  being  made  more  of  a 
demonstration  than  might  otherwise  have  been  expected.  The 
manufacturing  resources  of  this  country  were  revealed  to  a 
wonderful  degree,  the  products  of  inventive  genius,  artistic 
taste,  and  mechanical  skill  being  represented  on  a  guand  scale. 
Great  Britain's  contributions  were  largely  textile  fabrics,  with 
some  pottery.  India  and  Canada  also  took  part.  France  had 
a  fine  display  of  bronze,  lace,  porcelain,  and  other  pottery,  in 
cluding  the  choicest  Sevres  china,  Palissy  vases,  and  faience. 
Her  display  of  jewelry,  also,  was  excellent.  Holland  sent  ma 
terials  for  drainage,  model  houses,  school  books  and  apparatus, 
and  other  specimens  of  industry  and  progress.  Switzerland 
was  principally  represented  by  watches.  Sweden  surprised 


236  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

most  visitors  by  a  large  variety  of  iron  and  its  manufactures, 
other  metals,  porcelain,  military  exhibits,  and  peasant  folk  in 
native  dress.  Denmark's  furs,  terra-cptta  figures,  and  silver 
ware  attracted  much  attention.  Russia's  exhibits  were  some 
what  in  the  same  line,  but  supplemented  by  art-drawings  and 
casts.  The  display  from  Italy  was  not  large,  but  was  fine. 
Wood -carving  and  mosaics  were  a  prominent  feature  of  it. 
Portugal  sent  like  goods,  and  silver  filigree  work,  porcelain, 
and  terra-cotta  figures.  From  Spain  came  tapestries,  glass,  and 
pottery;  from  Turkey  rugs  and  other  Oriental  merchandise; 
and  from  Egypt  much  old  Saracenic  art,  steel,  gold,  silk,  and 
ivory.  A  particularly  elegant  and  copious  contribution  was 
made  by  Japan,  whose  bronze,  lacquer  work,  porcelain,  and 
other  decorative  products,  costly,  beautiful,  and  grotesque,  pro 
voked  unceasing  admiration.  China  did  not  rival  this  exhibit, 
though  well  represented.  Mexico,  Brazil,  and  other  Central 
and  South  American  countries  also  participated,  as  did  some 
of  the  minor  African  States.  The  next  largest  building  was 
Machinery  Hall,  measuring  1402x360  feet.  As  the  name  indi 
cates,  this  was  the  rendezvous  for  an  immense  variety  of  ma 
chines,  for  which  motive  power  was  furnished  by  a  steam-en 
gine  of  1400  horse-power,  manufactured  by  George  H.  Corliss, 
of  Providence,  R.  I.  This  colossal  motor  subsequently  went 
to  the  city  of  Pullman,  near  Chicago,  to  run  the  famous  car- 
shops  at  that  place.  Great  Britain  occupied  one-third  of  the 
space  in  this  building.  In  the  United  States  building  a  display 
was  made  of  apparatus  and  collections  of  the  several  depart 
ments  of  the  National  Government:  army  materials,  naval 
equipment,  coinage  and  currency,  postal  equipment,  models  of 
inventions,  minerals,  Indian  costumes  and  weapons,  school 
books  and  furniture,  and  so  on.  In  Horticultural  and  Agri 
cultural  halls  fine  exhibits  were  made.  A  careful  and  exten 
sive  collection  of  the  products  of  female  industry  was  made  at 
the  Women's  Pavilion.  There  was  also  an  art-gallery,  con 
taining  paintings  from  both  Europe  and  America.  No  less 
than  twenty-six  States  had  separate  buildings  for  special  dis 
plays  and  headquarters;  and  there  were  thirty  erected  by  pri 
vate  business  concerns  to  advertise  their  wares.  Some  foreign 
countries  had  their  own  little  edifices,  the  Turkish  bazaar  and 
cafe  being  a  popular  one.  The  exhibition  opened  on  May  10th, 
and  continued  six  months,  Sundays  excepted.  The  attendance 
in  this  time  was  about  ten  millions.  It  came  mostly  from  the 
north  and  east,  and  gave  the  railroads  centring  at  Philadel 
phia,  and  many  contributing  transportation  lines,  a  heavy  busi 
ness  all  summer.  Foreigners  attended  in  large  numbers,  too, 
improving  this  occasion  to  visit  America.  The  stimulus  given 
to  all  kinds  of  trade,  by  the  advertisement  gained  at  the  exhibi 
tion,  was  decided  and  quickly  perceptible. 

Hallett's  Reef,  a  dangerous  obstruction  to  the  navigation  of 
Hell  Gate,  where  East  River  emerges  into  Loner  Island  Sound, 
was  blown  up  by  General  Newton,  United  States  engineer, 
after  over  seven  years'  excavation.  As  early  as  1866  work  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  237 

this  kind  had  been  proposed.  An  appropriation  was  secured 
in  1868  from  Congress,  and  practical  work  begun  next  year. 
Several  smaller  but  very  dangerous  rocks — Ways  Reef,  Shell- 
drake,  and  Pot  Rock — were  lowered  by  drilling  holes  into  them 
and  firing  high  explosives  therein.  Hallett's  Reef  was  operated 
upon  differently.  Its  great  extent,  and  the  swiftness  of  the 
current,  led  to  the  fixing  of  a  coffer-dam  upon  the  ledge,  and 
the  sinking  of  a  shaft,  from  which  ten  horizontal  radiating  tun 
nels  were  made  in  the  stone  at  a  level  thirty-three  feet  under 
low-water  mark.  These  tunnels  ranged  from  fifty-one  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  in  length,  according  to  the  shape 
of  the  reef.  Into  the  rock,  along  the  passages,  three  thousand 
six  hundred  and  eighty  holes  were  bored,  and  charged  with 
dynamite  and  various  blasting-powders.  Of  the  former  twenty- 
eight  thousand  pounds  were  used;  of  the  latter  twenty-four 
thousand.  This  work  being  completed,  the  mine  was  filled 
with  water,  to  tamp  the  explosives,  and  these  were  fired,  all  at 
once,  by  a  single  shock  of  electricity,  on  the  24th  of  September 
of  this  year.  Dredging  removed  the  crumbled  rock  in  a  few 
months.  Operations  at  Hallett's  Reef  were  immediately  fol 
lowed  up  by  similar  ones  at  Flood  Rock,  much  the  largest  ob 
struction  hi  the  strait.  Hallett's  Reef  projected  northeast 
wardly  from  Long  Island.  Flood  Rock  rose  in  the  middle  of 
the  narrow  channel.  But  a  small  portion  of  it  rose  above  wa 
ter;  but  the  section  at  a  level  twenty-six  feet  below  low  tide  was 
one  thousand  two  hundred  feet  long,  and  from  three  hundred 
to  six  hundred  and  thirty -five  feet  wide.  A  shaft  had  been 
sunk,  and  excavation  begun  in  1875;  and,  before  the  final  ex 
plosion,  October  10,  1885,  all  this  portion  had  been  under 
mined,  leaving  only  a  shell,  with  four  hundred  and  sixty -seven 
pillars  holding  it  up.  These  were  perforated  with  thirteen 
thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  holes,  nine  feet  deep  and 
three  inches  across.  Dynamite  and  powder  weighing  two  hun 
dred  and  eighty-five  thousand  pounds  were  employed  in  the 
final  blast,  the  tremor  from  which  was  felt  as  far  away  as  Bos 
ton.  In  details,  this  work  was  done  in  the  same  manner  as  that 
at  Hallett's  Reef. 

The  presidential  election  this  year  was  followed  by  an  ex 
ceptional  and  alarming  controversy.  The  Republicans  had 
nominated  for  President  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  of  Ohio,  who 
the  previous  year  had  defeated  William  .AJlen  in  a  contest 
for  gubernatorial  honors,  on  a  hard-money  platform.  For 
Vice-President,  William  A.  Wheeler  of  New  York,  who 
had  been  instrumental  hi  adjusting  the  Louisiana  troubles 
peaceably,  was  chosen.  A  third  term  for  General  Grant  had 
been  proposed,  but  was  not  received  favorably,  as  a  departure 
from  all  precedent  in  America.  James  G.  Blaine  came  very 
near  being  nominated,  but  failed.  The  Democrats  nominated 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  then  governor  of  New  York,  and  Thomas 
A.  Hendricks  of  Indiana.  Their  platform  condemned  the  use 
of  troops  in  the  South,  and  favored  a  reduction  of  the  tariff. 
The  Greenback  party  named  Peter  Cooper  of  New  York  and 


238  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Samuel  F.  Gary  of  Ohio  as  its  candidates.  The  other  parties 
favored  hard  money.  The  Greenback  ticket  polled  over  three 
hundred  thousand  votes  in  the  country,  but  carried  no  State. 
For  several  days  after  the  election  in  November  the  result  re 
mained  in  great  doubt.  Four  States  were  fiercely  disputed. 
The  returning  board  in  Louisiana  gave  the  Hayes  ticket  a 
majority  of  about  four  thousand,  but  secured  that  result  by 
throwing  out  the  vote  from  several  parishes,  on  account  of  in 
timidation  of  voters.  The  Democrats  claimed  that  these  re 
turns  should  also  be  counted,  which  would  give  Tilden  the 
State.  In  South  Carolina  the  returns  were  canvassed  by  the 
legislature.  Two  bodies  claiming  to  be  such  were  organized. 
One  found  a  plurality  of  about  eight  hundred  for  the  Repub 
lican  ticket ;  the  other  a  smaller  one  for  the  Democratic  ticket. 
In  Florida  a  similar  dispute  arose,  the  majorities  claimed  by 
both  sides  being  scarcely  over  one  hundred.  Finally,  in  Oregon, 
which  gave  an  unquestioned  Republican  majority,  one  candi 
date  for  presidential  elector  on  the  winning  ticket  was  said  by 
Ms  enemies  to  be  ineligible  on  account  of  his  having  been  post 
master  when  nominated.  Governor  Grover  therefore  proposed 
to  give  certificates  of  election  to  his  two  Republican  colleagues, 
but  to  a  Democrat,  Cronin,  in  his  stead.  This  situation  derived 
the  greater  importance  from  the  facts  that  the  Democrats  had 
one  hundred  and  eighty -four  electoral  votes  in  the  country  un 
questioned,  while  the  utmost  claims  of  the  Republicans  gave 
them  only  one  hundred  and  eighty-five.  The  change  of  a 
single  vote,  therefore,  would  elect  Tilden.  When  this  situa 
tion  was  discovered,  partisan  spirit  reached  a  high  pitch.  The 
Tilden  party  shouted  "  fraud,"  and  seemed  to  believe  that  their 
honestly  won  prize  was  being  stolen;  while  the  Hayes  party 
claimed  that  their  returning  boards  had  acted  legally  and 
honestly,  and  that  the  Oregon  Democrats  were  practising 
wicked  and  dangerous  games.  The  complication  was  increased 
by  the  fact  that  one  party  controlled  each  house  in  Congress  ; 
and  as  the  electoral  vote  must  be  counted  at  a  joint  session  of 
the  two,  and  double  sets  of  returns  would  come  from  four 
States,  a  quarrel  was  sure  to  arise  in  Congress  which  threatened 
to  end  disastrously.  Impetuous  Democrats  talked  of  marching 
an  army  of  volunteers  to  instal  Tilden  as  President  at  all  haz 
ards.  Revolution  and  civil  war  appeared  imminent.  The 
electoral  dispute  was  considered  by  Congress  when  it  met  in 
December,  and,  after  a  few  weeks,  a  bill  was  passed  constitut 
ing  a  special  tribunal  to  decide  the  mooted  points  when  the 
court  began  in  February.  This  tribunal  consisted  of  5 
Senators  appointed  by  the  Vice-President  (3  Republicans  and  2 
Democrats),  5  Representatives  appointed  by  the  Speaker  (3 
Democrats  and  2  Republicans),  and  5  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  The  Electoral  Commission  decided  that  the  Louisiana 
returning  board  had  only  exercised  powers  clearly  accorded  by 
the  State  law,  and  that  Congress  could  not  go  behind  the  re 
turns  to  inquire  whether  that  board  had  performed  its  duty 
honestly  or  not.  South  Carolina  and  Florida  were  similarly 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  239 

disposed  of;  and  all  three  States  were  counted  for  Hayes.  The 
ineligibility  of  Watts  in  Oregon  was  not  recognized,  and  the 
way  in  which  his  electoral  vote  was  cast  for  Hayes  was  declared 
legal.  The  count,  therefore,  when  completed,  gave  Hayes  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five,  and  Tilden  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
four;  but  it  was  not  finished  until  two  days  before  the  time  for 
inauguration.  Revised  returns  gave  the  three  disputed  South 
ern  States  to  the  Democrats  on  the  State  tickets,  and  restored 
to  that  party  a  "  Solid  South." 

An  unprecedented  number  of  railway  mortgages  were  fore 
closed  this  year,  A  total  amount  of  nine  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  of  indebtedness  was  represented  by  the  companies 
foreclosed,  in  stocks,  bonds,  and  other  evidences  of  debt. 

The  United  States  troops  in  Montana,  on  the  25th  of  June, 
under  General  Ouster,  were  overpowered  in  a  conflict  with  the 
Indians,  and  the  commander  and  two  hundred  and  sixty-one 
troops  were  killed  and  fifty-one  wounded. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  a  fire  on  Broadway,  in  New  York, 
destroyed  property  valued  at  three  millions  of  dollars. 

On  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  December,  the  Brooklyn  Thea 
tre,  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  caught  fire  during  the  performance  of 
a  play.  A  panic  ensued,  and  nearly  three  hundred  persons 
lost  their  lives  by  suffocation  or  the  flames. 

A  passenger  train  on  the  Lake  Shore  road,  on  the  29th  of 
December,  fell  through  the  iron  bridge  spanning  the  Ashtabula 
Creek,  a  distance  of  seventy-five  feet,  into  the  water  below. 
The  wrecked  cars  took  fire  and  more  than  seventy  persons 
perished  by  the  disaster. 

1877  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  and  William  A.  Wheeler  commenced 
their  terms  of  office,  on  the  4th  of  March,  as  President  and 
Vice-President. 

The  first  telephone  for  business  purposes  was  erected  and 
leased  to  a  regular  patron  the  first  ^week  in  April.  This  was 
from  the  house  of  Charles  Williams  in  Somerville  to  his  business 
office  in  Boston,  three  miles  away.  The  instruments  attached 
were  invented  by  Alexander  Graham  Bell  of  Boston.  This  gentle 
man  had  been  studying  the  subject  of  conveying  sound  over  an 
electric  wire  ever  since  1867,  when  he  received  hints  from  the 
work  of  German  investigators.  Up  to  1874  Mr.  Bell  experiment 
ed  to  produce  musical  instruments  that  would  respond  to  each 
other  over  a  wire,  being  operated  by  the  voice.  In  that  year 
he  changed  his  plan,  and  substituted  a  membrane  like  that  of  the 
ear  as  the  vibrating  receiver  and  transmitter.  Continuing  his 
studies,  tests,  and  invention,  he  had  so  far  perfected  his  instru 
ment  in  1876  as  to  exhibit  two  of  them  at  the  Centennial  Exhibi 
tion.  Before  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
which  met  in  Boston  that  year,  he  read  a  paper  regarding  his 
invention  May  10th.  In  August  he  tried  it  at  bis  own  home, 
talking  audibly  over  ten  miles  of  wire.  The  matter  was  dis 
cussed  before  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  at  Glasgow,  in  the  autumn.  During  the  winter  and 
spring  of  this  year  he  made  further  partially  public  tests,  In 


240  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

one  of  these,  two  Japanese  used  the  instrument,  conversing  in 
telligibly  in  their  own  language.  Another  attended  a  lecture 
which  he  gave  in  Salem,  February  12th.  A  telephone  was  set 
up  in  the  hall,  connecting  with  another  in  Boston,  eighteen 
miles  away.  Talk  between  the  two  cities  was  carried  on  that 
evening;  and  the  singing  in  Boston  of  "Hold  the  Fort"  and 
other  songs  was  made  audible  to  the  Salem  audience.  A 
newspaper  despatch,  the  first  ever  thus  transmitted,  was  sent 
that  evening  from  Salem  to  a  Boston  newspaper,  recounting 
the  event.  In  April,  as  already  stated,  the  first  business  tele 
phone  was  put  in  operation.  Next  month,  the  Cambridge 
Water  Board  ordered  one.  Then  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
called  for  another,  to  be  put  in  at  Altoona.  Professor  Bell 
lectured  in  New  York  in  May,  first  to  a  limited  number  of 
telegraphic  experts,  and  then  to  a  general  audience.  And  his 
business  now  gradually  but  very  slowly  extended.  Thomas 
A.  Edison  now  began  to  experiment  with  telephones,  and  invent 
ed  one  slightly  different  from  the  Bell  instrument.  His  patent 
was  bought  up,  and  a  number  of  his  instruments  put  into  use 
in  New  York  City  by  a  corporation  closely  related  to  the  West 
ern  Union.  Elisha  Gray  of  Chicago  began  studying  the  subject 
about  the  same  time  as  Bell;  and  he  filed  a  caveat  at  Washing 
ton  just  three  hours  after  the  latter  applied  for  a  patent.  Gray 
sold  his  claims  to  the  Western  Union;  but  none  of  his  instru 
ments  were  ever  made  for  general  business.  The  Western 
Union  rapidly  developed  the  use  of  telephones,  and,  it  is  said, 
was  the  first  to  organize  exchanges  with  which  subscribers  were 
all  connected.  Bell,  having  organized  a  company  to  take  hold 
of  his  invention  in  Boston,  brought  a  suit  against  the  New  York 
•concern  for  infringement  of  his  patent.  After  considerable  ligi  ta- 
tion,  beginning  in  1878,  he  achieved  a  victory.  A  consolida 
tion  of  interests  then  followed;  and  the  business  of  the  Ameri 
can  Bell  Telephone  Company  then  rapidly  developed.  The  busi 
ness  in  New  York  City  was  sublet  to  the  newly  organized 
Metropolitan  Telephone  Company  in  1880,  and  in  the  fall  of 
that  year  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  towns  in  the  country 
liad  telephone  exchanges.  Daniel  Drawbaugh,  living  near 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  obtained  a  patent  for  a  telephone  in  July, 
1880;  and  a  company  to  utilize  it  was  formed.  But  it  was  sub 
sequently  compelled  by  the  courts  to  surrender  to  its  rival. 
Other  companies  with  still  other  devices,  were  formed  still  later 
in  the  south,  and  were  likewise  sued.  The  cases  are  still  pend 
ing.  By  the  close  of  1884  the  number  of  telephones  in  use  in 
this  country  was  three  hundred  thousand  or  more,  mostly  owned 
and  controlled  by  the  American  Bell  Telephone  Company. 
Various  improvements  were  made  in  Bell's  instrument  after 
1877,  the  most  important  being  the  Blake  transmitter.  But 
the  essential  principle  of  his  invention  is  still  used  in  all  the 
electric  telephones  in  the  world. 

The  most  serious  and  extensive  labor  strikes  in  the  history  of 
the  country  occurred  this  summer.  A  reduction  of  ten  per 
cent  in  the  wages  of  employees  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  241 

road  was  followed  July  14th  by  a  strike  on  the  several  branches 
of  this  road.  A  few  days  later  the  workmen  of  the  Pennsyl 
vania,  Erie,  and  New  York  Central,  and  their  Western  connec 
tions,  including  the  Missouri  Pacific  and  a  few  other  shorter 
lines  west  of  the  Mississippi,  also  struck,  either  because  of  some 
less  recent  reduction  of  pay  or  other  grievance.  The  opera 
tives  were  aware  that  the  railway  managers  were  hostile  to 
trades-unions,  which  may  have  aggravated  the  trouble.  The 
rich  and  influential  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers, 
numbering  fifty  thousand  members  in  the  United  States,  and 
holding  several  millions  of  dollars  in  its  treasuries,  took  the  initia 
tive  in  this  strike;  but  the  firemen,  brakemen,  and  other  railroad 
hands,  and  miners  and  iron-workers  employed  by  the  railroad 
companies,  also  participated.  The  refusal  of  the  men  to  wrork, 
or  to  allow  others  to  work  in  their  places,  stopped  all  operations 
on  the  roads.  Freight  rapidly  accumulated,  and  there  was  a 
general  blockade.  Shipping  agents  were  obliged  to  decline 
freight  that  was  offered  for  transportation.  The  employers 
called  upon  the  various  State  authorities  for  militia  to  protect 
new  employees  in  moving  trains ;  but  in  most  cases  the  inex 
perience  or  f aint-heartedness  of  the  militia  made  it  necessary  to 
call  for  United  States  troops.  A  detachment  of  two  hundred 
or  three  hundred  of  these  went  to  Martinsburg,  W.  Va.,  on 
the  19th  to  assist  the  local  authorities  in  opening  traffic.  ^  The 
President  in  the  mean  time  ordered  those  persons  combining  to 
interfere  with  lawful  business  to  disperse.  In  Baltimore  the 
strikers  resisted  an  effort  to  clear  them  from  the  streets,  and  a 
riot  ensued  July  20th,  in  which  nine  were  killed  and  more 
than  twenty  wounded.  The  situation  was  even  worse  in  Pitts- 
burg,  where  the  strikers  offered  violent  resistance  to  an  effort 
to  start  a  train  under  military  protection.  As  the  soldiers  ap 
peared  in  the  streets  on  the  21st,  a  vast  mob  waylaid  them  and 
began  flinging  stones  and  other  missiles  at  them.  Several 
volleys  of  musketry  were  now  fired  into  the  crowd  with  fatal 
effect,  but  only  to  increase  the  rage  and  opposition  of  the 
throng.  The  military  were  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  a  round 
house  of  the  railroad  company;  there  they  were  besieged.  Oil 
cars  were  lighted  and  rolled  up  against  the  building.  When 
the  firemen  arrived  they  were  not  allowed  to  extinguish  the 
flame.  Indeed,  the  incendiary  torch  was  now  applied  to 
machine-shops  and  other  buildings  ;  and  two  thousand  freight 
cars  were  either  pillaged  or  burned.  The  wildest  excesses  were 
indulged  in  by  the  frenzied  rioters.  Barrels  of  liquor  were 
stolen  from  the  cars,  and  broached  for  the  crowd;  clothing, 
furniture,  and  all  sorts  of  goods  were  stolen  from  the  blockaded 
shipments,  and  taken  to  thousands  of  houses  in  town.  Women 
shared  in  this  general  thievery.  This  work  was  largely  Con 
ducted  and  incited  by  a  lawless,  communistic  element  entirely 
distinct  from  the  genuine  labor  classes.  The  losses  involved  in 
this  affair  were  estimated  at  nearly  or  quite  ten  millions  of  dollars. 
Order  was  finally  restored  by  the  assistance  of  Federal  troops. 
In  Buffalo,  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  elsewhere,  there  were  other 


242  HISTOKT   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

disturbances ;  in  Reading,  Pa.,  thirteen  were  killed,  and 
forty-three  wounded  by  a  collision  between  the  military  and  a 
mob.  Another  riot  in  Chicago,  Juty  26th,  resulted  in  the  kill 
ing  of  nineteen  persons.  Here  the  police  were  assisted  by  United 
States  cavalry  in  charging  the  crowd.  Inflammatory  harangues 
were  being  made  all  this  time  at  labor  and  socialist  meetings  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  In  Tompkins  Square,  New 
York,  on  the  25th,  John  Swinton  and  other  prominent  com 
munists  addressed  a  vast  assemblage.  At  the  height  of  the 
strike,  six  thousand  or  seven  thousand  miles  of  railroad  in  the 
country  between  New  England  and  the  Missouri  River  were 
kept  from  being  operated  ;  and  over  one  hundred  thousand 
laborers  took  part  in  the  movement.  The  utmost  alarm  pre 
vailed  over  the  whole  country,  and  no  one  knew  to  what  ex 
tent  the  outbreak  might  yet  go.  The  worst  of  it  was  over, 
however,  before  the  close  of  the  month.  A  reaction  set  in  about 
the  27th,  when  many  of  the  laborers  returned  to  work  ;  and  by 
the  30th  nearly  all  of  the  roads,  especially  east  of  Buffalo, 
were  in  operation  again.  Considerable  political  excitement 
grew  out  of  these  events  ;  and  various  agitators  tried  to  make 
capital  and  votes  out  of  the  feeling  thus  aroused. 

The  prominent  features  of  Hayes's  administration  this  year 
were  the  withdrawal  of  Federal  troops  from  the  South,  and  an 
order  forbidding  office-holders  to  participate  in  the  organiza 
tion  and  conduct  of  party  work. 

A  fire  broke  out  in  Broadway,  in  New  York,  on  the  6th  of 
March,  and  destroyed  property  valued  at  over  one  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars.  On  the  24ir  of  November  the  United 
States  sloop  of  war  Huron  struck  the  rocks  near  Oregon  Inlet, 
North  Carolina,  by  which  disaster  nearly  one  hundred  lives 
were  lost. 

1878  Congress  passed  a  bill  requiring  the  coinage  of  two  mil 
lions  of  dollars  in  silver  dollars,  of  41 2|  grains  each,  monthly. 
This  was  the  culmination  of  a  movement  that  had  been  in 
progress  for  three  or  four  years.  When  the  inflationists  found 
themselves  unable  to  get  a  law  for  unlimited  paper  money  they 
began  to  agitate  for  silver  money.  The  silver  dollars  had  been 
out  of  circulation  during  the  war  ;  and  in  1873  a  law  was  passed 
making  gold  the  exclusive  currency  standard.  Owing,  how 
ever,  to  the  depreciation  of  silver,  the  amount  of  the  metal 
which  formerly  went  into  a  dollar  was  now  worth  only  about 
ninety  cents  in  gold.  Remonetization  of  silver  was  therefore 
opposed  by  the  old  hard-money  class  as  a  blow  at  the  public 
credit,  and  President  Hayes  vetoed  the  silver  bill  when  it  was 
first  enacted ;  but  Congress  passed  it  over  the  veto  promptly. 

Two  important  sections  of  the  elevated  railway  in  New  York 
were  opened  for  travel  this  year.  An  elevated  railroad  was 
originally  projected  as  early  as  1868,  as  an  experiment,  in 
Greenwich  Street  and  Ninth'  Avenue,  charging  no  fares.  By 
February,  1869,  it  was  extended  to  Thirty-first  Street.  It  was  a 
single  track  road,  supported  on  a  single  row  of  iron  pillars,  and 
was  jocularly  called  the  "  one-legged  "  railroad.  It  was  at  first 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  243 

operated  by  a  cable  moved  by  stationary  engines;  but  in  1871 
dummy  locomotive  engines  were  substituted.  There  were 
several  slight  extensions  to  this  first  line  in  the  next  year  or  so. 
The  line  was  sold  out  under  a  foreclosure  in  1871.  In  1872  two 
new  companies  were  formed,  the  New  York  Elevated  and  the 
Metropolitan  Elevated.  These  subsequently  leased  all  their 
lines  to  the  Manhattan  Railway  Company,  which  now  operates 
them.  Neither  of  them  did  much  until  1876,  when  construction 
began  in  earnest.  The  Sixth  Avenue  line,  from  Morris  Street 
to  Fifty -ninth  Street,  was  opened  June  5th,  this  year,  and  on 
August  26th  the  Third  Avenue  line,  from  South  Ferry  to  Forty- 
second  Street,  with  a  branch  to  Fourth  Avenue  at  the  latter 
point,  was  also  opened.  By  the  close  of  the  year  the  Third 
Avenue  line  was  in  operation  to  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
ninth  Street,  in  Harlem,  eight  and  one-half  miles  from  South 
Ferry.  The  Sixth  A.venue  line  was  extended  the  following 
year,  through  Fifty  third  Street  to  Ninth  Avenue,  and  through 
that  thoroughfare  and  Eighth  Avenue  to  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-fifth  Street.  The  southern  extension,  from  Morris 
Street  across  Battery  Park  to  South  Ferry,  was  completed  No 
vember  1,  1881.  The  original  single  track  road  had  extended 
up  Ninth  Avenue  to  Fifty-ninth  Street  in  1876.  It  was  entirely 
rebuilt  by  its  new  owners,  and  opened  May  2,  1880.  Mean 
time  various  short  branches  were  constructed  at  several  points. 
The  fourth  of  the  great  parallel  lines,  that  through  Second 
Avenue,  starting  from  Chatham  Square,  was  opened  to  Sixty- 
seventh  Street  March  1,  1880,  and  to  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-ninth  Street  the  following  August.  These  roads  are 
built  on  iron  pillars  about  eighteen  feet  high,  set  thirteen  feet 
apart  lengthwise  of  the  road.  On  some  lines  the  cross-ties  of 
each  track  are  supported  by  a  separate  row  of  posts,  the  two 
being  tied  together  part  of  the  way  by  cross-braces.  On  other 
lines  the  two  rows  of  pillars,  forty  feet  apart,  support  regular 
girders  on  which  the  up-track  and  down-track  rest,  near  each 
other,  and  considerably  between  the  pillars.  Each  of  these 
upright  supports  is  bolted  to  huge  stone  and  iron  foundations 
set  in  a  mass  of  cement  six  feet  square.  Trains  of  four  cars  are 
run,  at  a  speed  of  about  twelve  miles  an  hour,  by  fifteen-ton 
engines.  At  the  busy  hours  of  the  day,  trains  run  a  minute 
and  a  half  apart.  The  stations  occur  at  intervals  of  one-quarter 
mile  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  and  about  one  half  mile 
further  up  town.  By  1884  there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty 
engines  and  eight  hundred  cars  running;  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  stations  in  use;  three  thousand  five  hundred  or  four 
thousand  employes  required;  the  same  number  of  trains  run, 
daily;  a  mileage,  counting  the  up  and  down  tracks  separately,  of 
sixty-four  miles;  and  over  three  hundred  thousand  passengers 
were  carried  daily,  or  about  one  hundred  and  three  millions  a 
year.  During  three  hours,  in  the  early  morning,  and  three,  in 
the  late  afternoon,  the  fare  is  five  cents,  at  other  times  ten 
cents.  In  October,  1884,  the  rate  on  Sunday  at  all  hours  was 
reduced  to  five  cents.  The  Brooklyn  Elevated  Road,  the  first 


244  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

one  in  Brooklyn,  the  first  five-mile  section  of  which  was  put  in 
operation  May  13,  1885,  is  constructed  on  much  the  same 
plan  as  the  New  York  lines.  The  fare  is  uniformly  five  cents. 

Gold  and  paper  money  were  of  equal  value,  for  the  first  time 
in  seventeen  years,  on  the  18th  of  December,  of  this  year. 

Electric  lighting  became  a  success  in  America  this  year. 
The  first  hint  of  the  invention  came  from  Europe.  But,  as 
long  ago  as  1845,  Mr.  King,  an  American  inventor,  patented 
boih  in  the  United  States  and  England,  an  incandescent  electric 
light.  Into  the  iron  wire  which  conducted  the  current  of 
electricity  was  inserted  a  piece  of  carbon  or  platinum  wire,  and 
the  latter  enclosed  in  a  glass  globe,  hermetically  sealed,  from 
which  the  air  had  previously  been  exhausted.  The  principle 
of  this  lamp  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  the  one  brought  to 
perfection  in  1878.  The  experiments  of  Mr.  King  and  the 
other  inventors  of  his  time  failed,  commercially,  because  it  was 
impossible  then  either  to  produce  a  perfect  vacuum  or  to  gene 
rate  electricity  at  a  low  cost.  In  1856  Dr.  Geissler  invented 
the  first  mercurial  air-pump,  and  about  ten  years  later  Spren- 
gle  perfected  the  pump  on  the  ''dropping  system/'  thus  making 
it  possible  to  secure  a  practically  perfect  vacuum.  Gramme 
and  Siemens,  in  Europe,  soon  after  perfected  their  inventions 
for  generating  electricity  on  a  large  scale  mechanically,  by  re 
volving  a  piece  of  soft  iron  rapidly  in  front  of  the  poles  of  a 
horseshoe  magnet.  The  subject  of  electric  lighting  revived  at 
once,  for  the  pathway  to*  success  had  been  cleared  of  its  worst 
obstacles.  In  Europe,  electric  lighting  was  confined  to  passing 
a  current  of  electricity  from  a  large  stick  of  carbon  to  another 
stick,  the  ends  of  the  two  being  brought  very  close  together, 
and  both  being  in  the  open  air.  The  current  of  sparks,  or 
"  arc,"  as  it  was  called,  gave  forth  a  brilliant  and  dazzling  light. 
In  1875  the  attention  of  American  inventors  was  drawn  anew 
to  the  whole  general  subject.  In  that  year  Charles  G.  Brush, 
of  Cleveland,  O.,  an  analytical  chemist,  proposed  to  George 
W.  Stockley,  Vice-President  of  the  Telegraph  Supply  Company 
of  that  city,  to  invent  a  machine  and  an  arc-light  lamp  which 
would  be  commercially  successful.  He  was  encouraged  to  try, 
and  in  two  months  he  produced  both  the  machine  (or  dynamo) 
and  the  lamp.  Both  were  a  success  from  the  start.  The  Tele 
graph  Supply  Company  entered  at  once  on  the  manufacture  of 
the  material  required  to  introduce  the  arc-light  into  actual  use. 
By  1878  about  twenty  factories  and  machine  shops  in  different 
parts  of  the  United  States  were  using  the  Brush  light  for  night 
work.  The  lamps  had  been  employed  to  illuminate  Niagara 
Falls  at  night  for  the  enjoyment  of  visitors.  And  a  beginning 
had  been  made  in  various  inland  cities  and  at  Coney  Island, 
»New  York  harbor,  in  lighting  the  public  streets  and  prome 
nades  at  night.  While  Mr.  Brush  was  experimenting,  J.  Bil 
lings  Fuller  was  engaged  in  New  York  City  in  perfecting  a  dy 
namo  of  different  construction  from  that  of  any  other  inventor, 
and  trying  to  produce  both  an  arc  and  an  incandescent  lamp  on 
a  new  principle.  Brush  and  all  other  inventors  passed  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  245 

direct  current  of  electricity  through  the  lamps.  Fuller's  idea 
was  to  pass  the  direct  current  through  the  centre  of  an  inde 
pendent  coil  of  wire,  in  which  latter  coil  an  induced  current 
should  be  excited,  the  induced  current  in  each  case  to  light  the 
lamp.  Fuller  died  from  over-work  in  February,  1879,  just  as 
he  was  on  the  point  of  attaining  success.  A  number  of  other 
men  also  invented  special  types  of  dynamos  and  of  arc-lights  in 
this  period  of  three  years  following  1875.  The  problem  of 
household  lighting  by  electricity  attracted  the  almost  simulta 
neous  attention  of  another  set  of  inventors.  The  arc-light  was 
too  dazzling  for  a  small  room.  How  to  subdivide  the  electric 
current  so  as  to  maintain  a  large  number  of  small  lights  on  one 
circuit  was  the  problem.  All  of  the  experimenters  recurred  at 
once  to  the  idea  of  incandescence  in  a  vacuum.  Moses  G. 
Farmer,  of  the  United  States  Torpedo  Station  at  Newport,  R. 
I.,  was  apparently  the  first  in  the  field.  As  early  as  1875  he 
was  making  incandescent  lights  with  platinum,  and  with  plati 
num  and  indium  wire.  In  that  year  he  conducted  the  current 
from  the  machine  through  forty-two  different  branch  wires, 
and  introduced  a  lamp  into  each  branch.  William  E.  Sawyer 
of  New  York  City,  an  electrician,  took  up  the  subject  next.  In 
August  and  November,  1877,  and  June,  1878,  he  patented  an 
incandescent  carbon  lamp,  and  exhibited  it  in  operation  in  a 
small  shop  to  a  number  of  capitalists.  In  his  first  experiments, 
he  used  a  glass  tube  about  nine  inches  long,  and  instead  of  ex 
hausting  the  air  and  producing  a  vacuum  he  excluded  the 
oxygen  by  filling  the  tube  with  pure  nitrogen  and  then  sealing 
it  hermetically.  The  carbon  was  a  slender  pencil  of  the  same 
material  used  in  the  carbons  of  the  arc-lights.  A  switch  was 
employed  to  turn  the  light  on  and  off,  and  a  regulator  to  pre 
vent  an  excess  of  current.  A  large  company  was  formed  to 
introduce  the  light  by  Mr.  Sawyer  and  Albon  Man  of  Brook 
lyn,  N.  Y.  The  use  of  nitrogen  was  afterwards  abandoned, 
and  instead  of  a  pencil  of  carbon,  a  filament  of  the  material 
was  used,  and  the  long  tube  was  changed  for  a  small  glass 
globe.  T.  A.  Edison,  of  Menlo  Park,  N.  J. ,  began  his  experi 
ments  almost  simultaneously  with  Mr.  Sawyer.  His  first 
efforts  were  with  incandescent  platinum.  No  regulator  could 
be  perfected  of  sufficient  delicacy  to  prevent  f using  of  the  metal 
from  excess  of  current,  and  the  platinum  wire  did  not  present 
sufficient  resistance  to  insure  the  commercial  value  of  the  lamp. 
Edison  then  began  the  production  of  filaments  of  carbon  by 
charring  fine  strips  of  paper,  pieces  of  thread,  and  finally 
vegetable  fibres.  In  1878  he  had  gone  far  enough  in  his  whole 
scheme  to  be  entirely  confident  of  final  success,  and  he  made, 
in  October  his  famous  announcement  that  he  had  discovered 
how  to  subdivide  the  electric  current  and  the  light  indefinitely, 
and  had  invented  a  practical  system  for  household  illumina 
tion.  The  manner  of  the  announcement,  telegraphed  as  it  was, 
unexpectedly,  to  every  part  of  the  world,  alarmed  the  stock 
holders  in  gas  companies,  and  produced  a  remarkable  fall  in 
the  value  of  gas  stocks.  In  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn, 


246  HISTOEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

where  there  were  thirteen  companies,  the  fall  in  several  cases 
ranged  from  12  to  20  per  cent.  Edison  had  discovered  that  the 
Sprengel  mercurial  air-pump,  perfected  by  Dr.  Crookes,  could 
produce  a  practically  perfect  vacuum,  in  which  a  good  carbon, 
made  from  vegetable  fibre,  would  last  from  six  hundred  to  one 
thousand  hours,  in  some  cases  longer.  He  had  also  proved  the 
correctness  of  the  theory,  previously  advanced  in  England, 
that  if  a  main  conductor  be  divided  into  any  number  of 
branches,  and  if  each  of  the  branches  be  divided  into  branches 
again,  each  of  the  minor  wires  would  convey  an  amount  of  the 
current  exactly  proportional  to  its  relative  resistance.  A  com 
pany  with  large  capital  had  been  formed  to  enable  Edison  to 
carry  on  his  experiments.  After  1878,  Edison  pushed  his  in 
vestigations  with  great  vigor,  and  the  details  of  his  system  were 
elaborated  one  after  the  other.  On  the  night  following  the 
presidential  election  in  November,  1880,  nearly  three  hundred 
incandescent  lamps  were  lighted  on  one  circuit  at  Menlo  Park, 
some  of  them  in  Edison's  shop  and  house,  and  the  others  in  the 
fields  and  roads  surrounding  the  buildings.  The  next  year 
steps  were  taken  for  creating  the  plant  for  the  practical  intro 
duction  of  the  system  in  New  York  City.  There  are  now,  in 
1885,  in  practical  use  in  New  York  City,  the  Edison  and  Saw 
yer-Man  systems  of  incandescent  lighting,  and  the  Brush  and 
United  States  (Maxim)  systems  of  arc  lighting  of  the  streets, 
wharves,  and  large  work-rooms.  Several  other  lights,  but  all 
on  the  same  principles  as  those  above,  are  seeking  for  recogni 
tion,  but  thus  far  without  success. 

The  steamer  Metropolis,  bound  from  Philadelphia  to  Brazil 
with  workmen  and  material  for  a  railroad,  was  driven  ashore 
on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  on  the  31st  of  January,  in  a 
violent  gale,  and  totally  wrecked  ;  nearly  one  hundred  lives 
were  lost.  On  the  2d  of  May,  an  explosion  occurred  in  the 
Washburne  Flour  Mills  at  Minneapolis,  which  building  caught 
fire,  and  that  and  other  large  mills  were  burned,  by  which 
property  was  destroyed  valued  at  one  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars  and  seventeen  lives  were  lost.  On  the  8th  of  October  an 
excursion  train  on  the  Old  Colony  Railroad,  returning  to  Boston 
from  a  boat-race,  was  wrecked  by  a  misplaced  switch  in  the 
town  of  Quincy.  By  this  disaster  twenty-one  persons  were 
killed  outright  and  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  more  injured. 
1879  The  resumption  of  specie  payments  by  the  United  States 
Government  was  effected  January  1st,  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  1875.  Secretary  Sherman  had,  by  the  sale  of  bonds,  ac 
cumulated  in  the  Treasury  $138,000,000  of  coin  (mostly  gold), 
which  was  40  per  cent  of  the  outstanding  legal- tender  notes. 
This  fact  so  strengthened  public  credit,  that  only  $11,000,000 
of  greenbacks  were  offered  for  redemption  January  1st.  There 
after,  confident  that  they  could  get  gold  if  they  wanted  it,  and 
rather  preferring  paper  money  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  the 
people  quite  generally  ignored  the  privilege  of  exchanging  the 
latter  for  the  former.  During  the  previous  four  years,  the 
premium  on  gold  had  fallen  pretty  steadily  down  to  nothing 
at  all  in  the  fortnight  preceding  resumption.  How  to  bring 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  247 

about  resumption  was  a  problem  that  atttracted  much  attention 
for  ten  years.  It  was  effected  more  easily  than  had  been  an 
ticipated. 

The  army  appropriation  bill  this  year  contained  a  clause  pro 
viding  that  no  Federal  troops  should  be  employed  to  do  police 
duty  in  the  South.  President  Hayes,  considering  this  an  inva 
sion  of  the  executive  prerogative,  vetoed  the  bill.  A  special 
session  of  Congress  was  called  to  enact  a  new  army  bill,  but  the 
same  clause  was  retained. 

Congress  passed  the  Arrears  of  Pensions  bill,  providing  for 
the  admission  of  a  large  number  of  claims  formerly  ruled  out. 
The  estimates  of  the  amount  it  would  draw  from  the  Treasury 
were  at  first  between  $70,000,000  and  $150,000,000;  but  later 
estimates  put  it  at  $300,000,000  or  more. 

A  disastrous  fire  occurred  on  the  3d  of  March,  in  the  town  of 
Reno,  Nevada,  consuming  one  million  dollars'  worth  of  prop 
erty.  On  the  3d  of  December,  the  steamship  Borussia,  of  the 
Dominion  and  Mississippi  line,  sunk  at  sea,  losing  two  hundred 
lives. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  a  tornado  in  parts  of  Missouri,  Kansas, 
and  Nebraska,  destroyed  buildings,  swept  the  fields  of  their 
crops,  and  scooped  the  water  from  rivers  and  wells,  involving  a 
large  destruction  of  property,  and  the  lives  of  more  than  forty 
persons,  besides  injuring  eighty  more. 

1880  At  the  presidential  election  this  year  James  A.  Garfield  of 
Ohio  was  elected  President.  He  had  been  nominated  by  the 
Republicans,  with  Chester  A.  Arthur  of  New  York  for  Vice- 
President.  At  the  convention  of  this  party,  a  persistent  and  de 
termined  effort  was  made  to  nominate  Grant  again;  and  during 
thirty-six  ballots  he  received  the  faithful  support  of  about  three 
hundred  and  six  delegates  each  time.  James  G.  Blaine  was  his 
principal  rival,  with  John  Sherman  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  next  in  favor.  A  deadlock  having  been  reached, 
Blaine  and  Sherman  combined  to  nominate  Garfield.  The 
Democrats  nominated  General  Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  a  prom 
inent  Union  corps  commander  during  the  war,  for  President, 
and  William  H.  English  of  Indiana  for  Vice-President.  Samuel 
J.  Tilden  declined  in  advance  to  run.  The  Greenback  party 
nominated  Congressman  Weaver  of  Iowa  for  President,  and 
polled  307,000  votes,  but  carried  no  State.  In  this  election  the 
the  tariff  and  negro-suffrage  issues  were  the  chief  ones.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  campaign,  a  forged  letter,  purporting  to  have  been 
written  by  Garfield,  and  favoring  the  introduction  of  Chinese 
cheap  labor,  was  printed  extensively  by  the  Democrats.  Gar- 
field  denied  its  genuineness,  but  it  hurt  him  somewhat  with  the 
workingmen.  Some  attempt  was  also  made  to  connect  him 
with  the  Credit  Mobilier  scandal.  The  country  divided  by  sec 
tions  in  this  election,  the  North  voting  for  Garfield,  and  the 
South  for  Hancock.  The  electoral  vote  stood  two  hundred  and 
fourteen  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-five,  in  favor  of  the  former. 

The  intrenatipnal  postal  rate  of  five  cents  for  foreign  letters 
was  adopted  this  year. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  a  tornado  swept  over  parts  of  the  West- 


248  HISTORY    OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

ern  and  Southern  States.  The  town  of  Marshfield,  Mo.,  was 
totally  destroyed,  and  one  hundred  persons  were  killed  and  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  injured.  The  town  of  El  Paso,  Ark.,  was 
also  destroyed.  On  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  a  tornado  at 
Macon,  Miss.,  blew  down  twenty-two  houses,  killing  seventeen 


persons,  and  injuring  twenty-two  others. 
The  town  of  Milford,  Pa.,  i 


was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  14th 
of  May,  and  three  thousand  persons  were  rendered  homeless. 

On  the  23d  of  June,  the  steamboat  Seawanhaka,  running  be 
tween  New  York  and  Glen  Cove,  L.  I.,  burned  in  the  East 
River,  near  Randall's  Island,  by  which  catastrophe  about  fifty 
lives  were  lost. 

About  the  middle  of  October,  the  steamer  Alpena  of  the 
Goodrich  Line,  on  her  way  from  Grand  Haven  to  Chicago,  was 
lost  with  all  on  board,  the  persons  numbering,  it  was  com 
puted,  seventy  or  eighty. 

1881  James  A.  Garfield  and  Chester  A.  Arthur  commenced  their 
terms  of  office,  as  President  and  Vice-President,  on  the  4th  of 
March. 

President  Garfield  was  assassinated  July  2d,  by  Charles  J. 
Guiteau,  who  shot  him  in  the  back,  at  the  railway-station  in 
Washington,  just  as  he  was  leaving  town  for  Elberon,  to  see  his 
invalid  wife.  He  had  intended  to  go  thence  to  Williams  Col 
lege.  James  G.  Blaine,  Secretary  of  State,  and  other  friends 
were  with  the  President  at  the  time.  The  wound  did  not  prove 
immediately  fatal,  and  part  of  the  time  during  the  next  few 
weeks  there  was  a  prospect  of  the  President's  recovery.  He 
was  removed  to  the  White  House,  and  Mrs.  Garfield  was  sum 
moned  from  Elberon.  The  popular  excitement  over  the  das 
tardly  act  was  much  increased  by  the  political  situation.  Ros- 
coe  Conkling,  Senator  from  New  York,  felt  that  he  had  been 
deceived  and  wronged  by  Garfield  a  few  weeks  before,  in  the 
appointment  of  a  friend  of  Secretary  Blaine,  Judge  Robertson, 
to  the  New  York  Custom- House.  Conkling  and  his  colleague, 
Platt,  had  resigned  their  seats  in  the  Senate,  and  were  now  can 
didates  for  re-election,  hoping  to  secure  in  this  way  a  verdict 
from  their  own  State  condemning  the  President's  act.  But 
they  met  with  decided  opposition  at  home,  and  a  bitter  and  pro 
tracted  contest  was  in  progress,  and  Yicc-President  Arthur  was 
at  Albany  using  his  influence  for  Conkling,  when  the  assassina 
tion  occurred.  One  of  Guiteau's  utterances,  when  he  shot 
Garfield,  was,  "  I  want  to  see  Arthur  become  President."  Many 
people  in  the  country  could  not  for  a  time  avoid  the  suspicion 
that  Garfield  had  been  a  victim  of  Conkling's  hatred,  and  that 
Arthur,  if  he  became  President,  would  work  a  revolution  in  the 
patronage  and  policy  of  the  Government,  in  Conkling's  interest. 
Eventually  these  fears  proved  groundless,  and  the  feeling  tow 
ard  the  ex-senator  abated.  For  two  months  and  a  half  the  coun 
try  was  kept  in  profound  suspense  by  Garfield's  condition.  Sym 
pathy  was  universally  expressed,  many  messages  coming  from 
foreign  potentates  and  salesmen.  Millions  of  prayers  tor  the 
dying  man's  recovery  were  offered;  and  he  was  idolized  as  never 
before.  The  malarial  atmosphere  about  the  White  House  prov- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  249 

ing  hurtful  to  the  patient,  he  was  removed  with  great  care, 
September  6th,  to  Francklyn  Cottage,  Elberon,  where  after 
showing  slight  improvement,  he  died  September  19th.  The 
demonstrations  of  grief  throughout  the  land  were  unparalleled 
since  Lincoln's  death,  but  more  general  than  at  that  time,  as 
the  South  felt  kindly  toward  Garfield.  Many  cities  draped 
their  buildings  in  mourning;  New  York  was  fairly  swathed  in 
black.  The  body  was  taken  to  Washington,  exposed  to  view 
in  the  Capitol,  and  finally  removed  for  burial  to  Cleveland, 
with  an  imposing  military  and  civil  escort.  One  of  the  expres 
sions  of  sympathy  which  Mrs.  Garfield  received  was  a  fund  of 
$364, 000 raised  by  admirers  of  her  husband;  and  Congress  voted 
her  his  salary  for  the  rest  of  his  term.  Vice-President  Arthur 
took  the  oath  of  office  as  President  immediately  after  Garfield 's 
death.  Guiteau,  the  assassin,  was  a  persistent  office-seeker,  of 
erratic  ways  and  eccentric  ideas.  He  had  been  trying  for 
many  weeks  to  get  a  foreign  appointment  from  the  President, 
and  appears  to  have  been  exasperated  by  disappointment.  He 
confessed  to  having  dogged  Garfield's  footsteps  several  days  be 
fore  finally  shooting  him.  He  was  promptly  arrested,  and  barely 
escaped  being  lynched  on  the  way  to  jail.  Indeed,  September 
13th,  while  confined  there  awaiting  the  result  of  his  deed,  he 
was  fired  at  by  one  of  his  guards,  Sergeant  John  Mason, 
though  the  shot  missed  its  intended  victim.  Mason,  for  this 
breach  of  discipline  was  condemned  to  imprisonment  for  a 
year.  Guiteau  was  arraigned  in  Washington  in  November, 
and  the  trial  lasted  about  ten  weeks.  His  defence  was  insanity, 
and  a  number  of  experts  testified  in  the  case,  taking  opposite 
views  as  to  his  mental  condition.  The  other  testimony  showed 
that  there  was  a  taint  of  insanity  in  the  family.  His  career  had 
included,  among  other  things,  a  year  or  two  of  life  in  a  free- 
love  community  at  Oueida,  N.  Y.  In  his  own  behalf,  Guiteau 
testified  that  he  had  been  inspired  by  God  to  "  remove  Garfield," 
in  the  interests  of  peace  in  the  country.  His  manner  during 
the  trial  was  flippant,  impertinent,  and  irritable,  and  the  dignity 
of  the  proceedings  was  much  impaired  by  his  freaks.  The 
jury  convicted  him  January  25th,  1882;  and  he  was  hanged 
June  30th.  Eventually,  Mason  was  pardoned  out  of  prison. 
Most  of  Garfield's  cabinet  officers  resigned,  one  at  a  time,  a  few 
weeks  after  Mr.  Arthur  became  President;  and  the  latter 
selected  advisers  that  were  more  closely  in  sympathy  with  him. 

The  town  of  New  Ulm,  in  Minnesota,  was  struck  by  a  cy 
clone  on  the  16th  of  July,  and  more  than  one  hundred  houses 
were  demolished,  and  thirty  persons  killed  or  injured. 

Early  in  September,  forest  fires  began  in  Eastern  Michigan, 
spreading  over  large  portions  of  Huron,  Sanilac,  and  Tuscola 
counties.  Three  hundred  persons  were  burned  to  death,  and  a 
vast  amount  of  property  was  destroyed. 

1882  The  Star  Route  trials  this  year  formed  one  of  the  most  noted 
political  and  criminal  events  in  the  historv  of  the  country. 
Early  in  January,  just  as  a  large  number  of  bids  were  to  be 
opened  for  postal  service  on  what  were  known  as  Star  routes, 
the  report  of  special  inspectors  was  published,  stating  that  ex- 


250  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

tensive  frauds  had  been  discovered  in  that  service,  and  advising 
precautions  against  anything  further  of  the  kind.  The  revela 
tions  made  at  this  time  were  that  a  large  number  of  bonds 
given  by  mail  contractors  for  the  faithful  performance  of  duty 
were  found  to  be  fraudulent  and  worthless.  No  less  than  two 
hundred  and  ninety-six  contracts  were  thus  dishonestly  obtained, 
and  the  bonds  given  by  the  contractors  exceeded  eight  millions  of 
dollars.  Several  of  these  contractors  were  arrested  for  perjury. 
A  few  weeks  later  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  John  W.  Dorsey,  and 
Thomas  J.  Brady  were  indicted  on  more  serious  charges.  It 
was  alleged  that  they  were  the  chief  conspirators  in  a  scheme 
to  defraud  the  government  and  enrich  themselves  in  connec 
tion  with  the  Star  Route  service.  Brady  had  been  second  as 
sistant  postmaster-general,  in  which  capacity  he  had  the 
privilege  of  "  expediting"  service,  or  making  it  more  frequent, 
and  compensating  it  more  largely,  over  Star  routes  ;  and  it  was 
charged  that  he  abused  this  chance  to  favor  the  Dorseys  and 
their  associates,  and  had  shared  with  them  the  ill-gotten  plunder. 
In  twelve  contracts  specified  in  the  indictments,  the  pay  had  been 
raised  from  thirty  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-two  dollars 
to  three  hundred  and  five  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  dollars.  The  necessity  for  any  such  increase  was  denied 
by  the  prosecution  ;  and  instances  were  cited  to  show  that  much 
of  the  actual  work  was  sublet  to  other  contractors  for  a  small 
fraction  of  the  compensation  received  by  the  "ring."  It  was 
alleged  by  counsel,  afterwards,  that  the  government  had  been 
swindled  out  of  five  millions  of  dollars  by  this  class  of  operations. 
The  eminence  of  the  accused  persons  gave  the  matter  special 
importance.  Stephen  W.  Dorsey  had  been  a  conspicuous  poli 
tician,  and  in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1880  was  one  of 
the  most  efficient  members  of  the  Republican  National  Com 
mittee.  The  cases  finally  came  to  trial,  and  a  protracted  strug 
gle  ensued.  Colonel  Robert  L.  Ingersoll,  a  personal  friend  of 
Dorsey,  and  an  eminent  lawyer,  was  among  the  counsel  for  the 
defence ;  and  Attorney-General  Brewster  employed  George 
Bliss  and  other  high  legal  talent  to  assist  the  government.  The 
jury,  Sept.  llth,  returned  a  verdict  convicting  some  of  the 
minor  accomplices  of  the  alleged  plot,  but  disagreed  concerning 
the  principals,  although  nine  or  ten  of  the  twelve  jurors  voted 
for  conviction.  At  this  juncture,  Foreman  Dickson  stated  that 
he  had  received  overtures  from  the  government  looking 
to  a  bargain  for  conviction,  in  consideration  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars.  Subsequent  inquiry  showed  that  Mr.  Brew 
ster  had  never  authorized  any  such  negotiation.  A  new  trial, 
however,  was  had,  beginning  in  December,  and  lasting  six 
months.  The  indictment  against  Rerdell,  Dorsey's  clerk,  was 
set  aside  at  this  trial,  and  he  turned  State's  evidence,  making 
some  statements  concerning  the  business  methods  of  the  ac 
cused  persons  which,  at  the  time,  were  considered  damaging. 
After  a  six  months'  contest  in  the  courts,  however,  the  jury 
acquitted  Brady  and  the  Dorseys  ;  and  the  whole  prosecution, 
which  had  lasted  eighteen  months,  and  had  wearied  the  coun 
try,  went  for  naught 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  251 

A  law  was  passed  excluding  newly  immigrating  Chinese 
laborers  from  the  country,  and  requiring  those  already  here  to 
take  out  certificates,  if  they  left  the  United  States,  in  order  to 
prove  their  identity  before  being  readmitted.  A  strong  law  of 
this  kind  was  enacted  in  1879,  but  was  vetoed  by  President 
Hayes.  At  that  time  a  strong  anti-Chinese  agitation  had  been 
going  on  in  the  Pacific  coast  states  ;  and  it  continued  until  the 
successful  enactment  of  this  year. 

Congress  passed  one  of  the  most  effective  anti-polygamy  laws 
yet  recorded  on  the  statute  book.  It  disfranchised  and  rendered 
ineligible  to  office  all  polygamists.  Senator  Edmunds,  of  Ver 
mont,  fathered  the  measure,  and  it  was  named  after  him. 

In  March  there  was  a  great  overflow  of  the  Mississippi  River 
and  its  tributaries,  causing  the  loss  of  many  lives  and  the 
destruction  of  an  immense  amount  of  property.  According  to 
a  report  made  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  eighty-five  thousand 
persons  were  rendered  destitute  by  the  floods. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  a  cyclone  passed  over  the  town  of 
Grinnell,  Iowa,  and  destroyed  half  the  town  and  killed  more 
than  one  hundred  persons. 

1883  The  East  River  bridge  between  New  York  and  Brooklyn 
was  opened  for  travel  May  24th.  The  general  plan  of  this 
structure  included  a  massive  stone  tower,  276  feet  and  9  inches 
high,  on  each  shore,  and  perforated  for  the  roadways  by  two 
tall,  narrow  arches  beginning  119  feet  up  from  the  water  ;  four 
steel  wire  cables,  16  inches  in  diameter,  securely  fastened  in  a 
mass  of  masonry  930  feet  back  from  the  water's  edge  on  the 
New  York  side,  stretching  up  over  the  top  of  the  tower  across 
the  river  to  the  other  tower,  and  then  down  to  another  anchor 
age  930  feet  away,  in  Brooklyn,  and  a  series  of  stout  steel 
bands,  or  "  suspenders,"  each  capable  of  holding  up  one  hun 
dred  tons,  attached  to  the  cables  and  hanging  down  to  support 
the  framework  of  the  bridge.  The  main  span  is  1595  feet  6 
inches  long ;  the  two  land  spans  each  930  feet  ;  the  masonry 
viaduct,  or  approach,  on  the  Brooklyn  side,  971  feet,  and  the 
New  York  approach  1562,  making  a  total  of  about  six  thou 
sand  feet.  The  approaches  are  about  one  hundred  feet  wide, 
but  the  bridge  proper  is  only  eighty-five  feet.  It  is  divided 
lengthwise  into  five  passage-ways,  the  outermost  for  teams,  the 
next  two  for  cars  propelled  by  cables,  and  the  innermost  for 
foot  passengers.  From  the  ends  to  the  centre  the  structure 
rises  in  a  gentle  curve,  and  the  middle  of  the  bridge  is  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty-five  feet  above  water  in  summer,  and,  owing  to 
the  contraction  from  cold,  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  in 
winter.  This  enables  most  large  ships  to  pass  under  without 
lowering  their  topmasts.  The  bridge  was  designed  by  John  A. 
Roebling,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  builder  of  the  first  suspension 
bridge  at  Niagara,  and  many  others  elsewhere  ;  but  he  died  of 
lockjaw  in  1869,  and  his  son,  Washington  A.  Roebling,  suc 
ceeded  him  as  chief  engineer,  and,  being  familiar  with  his 
father's  work,  was  able  to  carry  the  work  to  completion, 
although  he,  too,  was  partially  disabled  in  1872  by  certain 
labor  connected  with  the  enterprise.  The  bridge  scheme  was 


252  HISTORY   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES. 


incorporated  by  an  act  of  the  New  York  Legislature  in  1867, 
and  Congress,  as  was  necessary,  formally  approved  this  bridg- 
ing  of  navigable  waters,  to  which  there  was  some  objection  in 
maritime  circles.  It  was  at  first  intended  to  make  the  bridge 
the  work  and  property  of  a  stock  company,  in  which  the  cities 
of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  might  be  shareholders,  but  after 
wards  it  was  put  in  charge  of  a  joint  board  of  municipal 
officers  from  the  two  cities,  and  the  money  was  contributed, 
one-third  by  New  York  and  two-thirds  by  Brooklyn.  The  first 
estimate  of  the  total  cost  was  seven  millions  of  dollars,  but  before 
it  was  finished  nearly  or  quite  sixteen  millions  of  dollars  were  ex 
pended.  Operations  began  January  3,  1870,  by  the  sinking 
of  a  huge  caisson  or  coffer-dam  of  wood  in  the  water  on  the 
site  of  the  future  Brooklyn  tower.  This  was  water-tight,  and 
workmen  inside  of  it  excavated  the  earth  until  the  caisson 
reached  bed  rock,  forty-five  feet  below  the  river  bed.  Then  the 
crib-work  was  filled  with  broken  stone  and  concrete  to  form  the 
foundation  of  the  tower.  When  this  was  effected,  a  similar 
caisson  was  sunk  on  the  New  York  side.  The  towers  having 
been  completed  in  1876,  preparations  were  begun  for  stretching 
the  cables.  These,  if  made  beforehand,  would  have  been  too 
heavy  to  lift  into  place,  and  so  they  were  formed  by  taking  one 
strand  at  a  time  across  and  binding  them  together.  Each  of  the 
four  cables  contained  5296  steel  wires,  lying  perfectly  straight, 
not  twisted.  The  first  wire  was  stretched  from  tower  to  tower 
August  14,  1876.  A  sailor's  chair  was  then  rigged,  and  in 
this,  by  the  wire,  E.  F.  Farrington,  master  mechanic,  crossed 
the  river  in  mid- air  eleven  days  later.  Cable-building,  however, 
did  not  fairly  begin  until  the  summer  of  1877,  and  it  was  ended 
in  October,  1878.  A  slender  foot-bridge  was  thrown  across  the 
river  suspended  from  the  cables,  to  facilitate  work,  and  at  that 
dizzy  height  a  number  of  venturesome  people  crossed  East 
River  before  the  main  bridge  was  completed.  The  weight  of 
each  tower  above  the  caisson  is  93,000  tons.  The  cables,  sus 
penders,  truss  work,  and  bed  of  the  bridge  weigh  14,684  tons. 
During  the  work  of  construction  twenty  persons  were  killed  in 
one  way  or  another.  One  of  the  oddest  accidents  was  the  escape 
of  one  of  the  strands  from  the  New  York  anchorage  while  the 
men  were  building  cables.  The  weight  of  it  between  the  towers 
drew  the  end  quickly  over  the  New  York  tower,  and  it  fell  into 
the  river.  Two  men  were  killed  and  three  injured  by  its  lash. 
The  opening  formalities  on  May  24th  of  this  year  were  elab 
orate,  including  civic  and  military  processions,  oratory,  salutes 
by  naval  vessels,  a  general  decoration  of  the  two  cities  and  the 
shipping  in  the  harbor  with  flags,  and  elaborate  fireworks  at 
night.  The  bridge  cars  were  not  put  in  operation  until  a  few 
weeks  afterwards.  At  first  the  fares  were  five  cents  by  cars  and 
one  cent  to  foot  passengers,  but  afterwards  these  were  reduced 
to  three  cents  (or  ten  tickets  for  twenty-five  cents)  by  cars,  and 
twenty-five  tickets  for  five  cents  by  the  promenade. 

The  rate  of  letter-postage  was  reduced  to  two  cents,  and  the 
transmission  of  money  by  postal  note  began  in  September. 

Congress  reduced  the  tariff,  and  removed  nearly  all  of  the  re- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  253 

maining    internal-revenue  tax,  except  that  on  tobacco  and 
spirits. 

The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  was  completed  August  23d, 
the  last  spike  being  driven  in  the  presence  of  a  large  and  dis 
tinguished  assemblage;  many  English  and  German  capitalists 
were  present  as  the  guests  of  the  railroad  company.  The  line 
was  opened  to  traffic  September  8th.  From  Superior  City, 
Wis. ,  near  Duluth,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  this  road  ex 
tends  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-four  miles  to  "Wal- 
lula  Junction,  on  the  Columbia  River,  in  Washington  Territory. 
One  extension  was  built  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Supe 
rior,  with  a  view  to  connecting  it  eastward  with  lines  reaching 
to  the  St.  Mary's  River  and  Canada.  Another  from  Brainerd, 
Minn.,  was  built  to  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis.  From  Wallula 
Junction  branches  were  built  to  Kalama  and  Portland;  others 
were  started  towards  Tacoma  and  Seattle  on  Pnget  Sound. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  the  Newhall  House,  at  Milwaukee, 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  involving  a  loss  of  more  than  one  hundred 
lives. 

1884  The  survivors  of  the  Greely  party  were  rescued  at  Fort  Con 
ger,  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  in  the  Arctic  regions,  June  22d,  by  a 
special  relief  expedition  under  Commander  Schley  of  the  United 
States  "Navy,  and  brought  back,  arriving  at  St.  John's,  New 
foundland  July  17th.  In  the  summer  of  1881  a  party  of  sol 
diers,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  A.  W.  Greely  was  sent  to  this 
point  by  the  Signal  Service  of  the  United  States,  to  be  one  of 
about  a  dozen  at  various  circumpolar  stations,  established  by  sev 
eral  countries,  for  scientific  observation  during  the  next  year  or 
two.  All  of  the  others  were  eminently  successful,  and  eventually 
returned  without  loss  of  life.  The  scheme  contemplated  an  ex 
pedition  to  Lady  Franklin  Ba}r  in  the  summer  of  1883  to  bring 
Greely's  party  back,  or  at  least  leaving  provisions  near  enough 
to  his  station  to  be  readily  found  on  his  retreat  southward.  In 
deed,  a  trip  for  the  latter  purpose  only  was  made  in  1882  by  the 
Neptune,  which  landed  a  quantity  of  stores  at  Cape  Sabine, 
hid  them  in  a  cache,  and  suitably  marked  the  spot  so  that  Greely 
could  find  it.  The  relief  expedition,  proper,  in  1883,  under 
command  of  Lieutenant  E.  A.  Garlington,  of  the  Cavalry  Ser 
vice,  comprised  two  vessels,  the  steam-whaler  Proteus,  which 
had  taken  Greely  up  in  the  first  place,  and  the  United  States 
gunboat  Yantic.  "While  near  Cape  Sabine,  and  before  she  had 
landed  many  of  her  supplies  anywhere,  the  Proteus  was  crushed 
in  the  ice  and  sunk.  Garlington  escaped  with  her  crew  in 
boats,  and  with  difficulty  found  his  way  southward  to  the  Yan 
tic,  which  was  left  in  the  rear,  at  Upernavik.  He  then  returned 
to  the  United  States,  his  expedition  having  proved  a  failure. 
Great  anxiety  was  now  felt  for  Greely's  safety,  and  a  new  ex 
pedition  was  fitted  out,  in  the  following  spring,  under  the  aus 
pices  of  the  Navy  Department.  The  steam-whalers  Thetis  and 
Bear  were  reinforced  by  a  gift  of  the  Arctic  exploring  vessel 
Alert,  from  the  British  Government.  Commander  Schley  set  sail 
from  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard  with  this  fleet  in  May,  and  pushed 
forward  with  great  energy.  Although  much  ice  was  encoun- 


254  HISTORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


tered  in  Baffin's  Bay  and  Smith  Sound  he  forced  his  way  through. 
On  the  22d  of  June,  men  were  sent  ashore,  in  the  steam-launch 
of  the  Bear,  at  Brevoort  Island  to  look  for  papers  or  other  in 
dications  of  Greely's  whereabouts  and  condition.  Under  a  pile 
of  stones  was  a  letter  locating  the  camp,  and  stating  that  the 
party  were  nearly  out  of  provisions.  It  was  dated  the  previous 
October.  The  Bear  was  advanced  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and 
the  launch  was  sent  out  a  second  time  that  day.  It  succeeded 
in  finding  the  camp  before  evening.  Only  seven  men,  includ 
ing  Greely,  were  found  alive,  and  two  of  them  died  soon  after 
ward.  Eighteen  others  were  already  dead,  from  starvation, 
most  of  them  having  expired  within  a  few  days  of  Commander 
Schley's  arrival.  The  sufferings  which  they  had  endured  in- 
the  last  few  months  had  been  indescribable.  When  found,  the 
survivors  were  subsisting  on  soup  made  from  sealskin  boots  and 
reindeer  moss,  with  a  few  shrimps.  Milk  punch  in  small  quan 
tities  was  given  to  the  men  by  the  rescuing  party;  but  as  too  much 
food  after  such  a  fast  would  endanger  their  lives,  they  were  kept 
only  partly  satisfied  for  many  days.  Had  the  relief  expedition 
arrived  a  few  days  later,  it  would  have  found  every  one  dead. 

At  the  presidential  election  of  this  year  Grover  Cleveland  was 
elected  President,  for  the  term  beginning  March  4,  1885.  He 
was  governor  of  New  York  State  at  the  time,  and  was  nominated 
by  the  Democrats.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  of  Indiana  was  their 
candidate  for  Yice-President.  The  Republicans  nominated 
James  G.  Elaine  of  Maine  and  John  A.  Logan  of  Illinois.  The 
Southern  issue  was  ignored  during  the  campaign,  the  Repub 
licans  making  their  fight  chiefly  on  the  tariff,  a  repeal  or  re 
duction  of  which  was  threatened  by  the  Democrats;  while  the 
latter  forced  the  reform  of  the  civil  service  forward  as  their 
chief  argument,  Cleveland  being  an  exponent  of  that  idea. 
Enough  Republicans  abandoned  Blaine  for  Cleveland  to  give 
the  latter  New  York  State  by  the  slender  plurality  of  one  thou 
sand  and  forty-seven,  out  of  over  one  million  one  hundred  thou 
sand  votes;  and  as  the  result  depended  upon  New  York  State, 
Cleveland  was  elected.  He  received  the  support  of  Connecti 
cut,  New  Jersey,  Indiana,  and  every  Southern  State,  securing 
two  hundred  and  nineteen  electoral  votes.  Blaine  had  one  hun 
dred  and  eighty-two. 

A  World's  Fair  was  opened  in  New  Orleans  December  16th, 
continuing  nearly  six  months.  It  was  to  have  been  inaugurated 
on  the  1st  of  December,  but  the  delay  was  caused  by  imperfect 
preparations;  and  not  until  well  into  January  was  the  display 
fairly  arranged.  In  the  extent  of  the  exhibits,  especially  from 
foreign  countries,  and  in  the  attendance,  it  was  not  the  equal  of 
the  Centennial  Exposition,  although  a  noteworthy  affair.  The 
main  building,  however,  was  the  largest  of  its  kind  ever  erected. 
Mexico  and  South  and  Central  America  were  well  represented. 
The  machinery  was  set  in  motion,  through  an  electric  button 
and  wire,  by  President  Arthur  in  Washington. 


THE  END. 


*s^>;> 


'  ' 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 


WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


17  1946 


•JO 


<;•:.  ' 


*>  ;:>•>>> 

m^m^^m 
m,J>/>>>> 


< 


LD  21-100m-7,'40 (6936s) 


>>:» 


TB>  >  •  y>    s  > 
^3>>    ^>    ^>>    ^» 
~^>    >>    3X>  ^^ 


^    :> 


1BK* 


YC  6^.370 

U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


M163007 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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